It was certainly not easy for Cristiano Ronaldo this past fall when, for the first time since 2003, he was not on the list of nominees for the Ballon d’Or. It was probably even more difficult for him when Lionel Messi was awarded the eighth award for the best football player on the planet.Both of them left European football in 2023, but the Argentine deserved his Ballon d’Or by leading the Gauchos to the World Cup title in Qatar, and he also had quite impressive numbers with Paris Saint-Germain.Since joining Al Nassr in January, Ronaldo has already delivered 37 goals and 13 assists in 43 appearances in Saudi football league and the Asian Champions League, and it obviously does not sit well with him that his great numbers remain below the relevant football radars. However, he had to keep that in mind when, forty days after the termination of cooperation with Manchester United, he decided to start paving the way for the pompous project of the super-rich Saudis.The goal-scoring machine runs smoothly at 38: CR7 scored more than Kane, Mbappe, Haaland…Hats off to the fact that stars like Karim Benzema, Neymar, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, N’Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez arrived in Arabia after Ronaldo, but it seems that one of the best of all time forgot that results and performance in the Middle East they are not yet relevant to receiving flattering football accolades.Thus, the IFFHS (International Federation for Football History and Statistics) presented its list of the best in 2023. It is not headed by Lionel Messi, but the Argentine is only third, behind Kylian Mbappe and leader Erling Haaland. Rodri, Jude Bellingham and Kevin De Bruyne are followed, Harry Kane is in seventh place, eighth-placed Berardo Silva is the only Portuguese in the top 10.What opinion the best scorer in the history of football has about this list can be seen from the comment he left on his official Instagram account regarding the mentioned publication of the Portuguese newspaper A Bola. Without a word, Ronaldo just left a few emojis crying with laughter and one with his hands over his eyes. Irony? Almost certainly. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A Bola (@abolapt) No doubt Ronaldo is wondering – how come I, the man with the most goals for club and country in 2023 (53), am not on your (ridiculous) list?The Portuguese became the best scorer in 2023 when three days ago he contributed to the demolition of Al Ittihad with two goals (2-5), thus leaving behind Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane with 52 goals each, and as Pep Guardiola announced that Erling Haaland (20) will not play tomorrow against Sheffield United at the Etihad, it is clear that Ronaldo ends the calendar year with the highest number of goals.##NAJAVA_MECA_7769445##
