Kevin-Prince Boateng has said that he once had to lie about his love for Cristiano Ronaldo in order to become a team-mate of Lionel Messi at Barcelona. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.
According to him, it soon became very clear that he was not allowed to speak in glowing terms about CR7 or Real Madrid after he signed for Barca, so he basically had to put aside his admiration for Ronaldo to secure the move.
KPB added that he lied, knowing fully well that he said his favourite team was Real Madrid in an old interview.
His words, “I always said I wanted to play for Real Madrid. I had to lie in a press conference because prior to that, two years before when I played in Las Palmas, they asked me who my favourite player was and I said Cristiano Ronaldo and I said my favourite team was Real Madrid!
Signing for Barcelona, they said to me ‘your favourite team is Barcelona and the best player in the world is Lionel Messi’. They said ‘you have to otherwise you can’t play here, it is impossible’. I sat there in the press conference and the first question was who was the best player in the world and I said ‘Lionel Messi’.
He had that power. I was going to sleep hoping that Leo likes me or sees me in the team. I was like tomorrow I can sign my shirt with Barcelona, but if Leo says ‘no’ I will not be going to sign the contract!
So we come in the dressing room, he’s just sitting there on his phone [and] gets a massage sitting down. Two minutes before we go out, he just stands up, closes his boots, and goes out. The warm up for the Champions League game against Liverpool, [we did the] crossbar challenge and then he goes back inside. [The] coach made the last adjustment, [Messi] is on the phone face-timing [and] 30 seconds before we go out he just comes and puts his jacket on and BOOM, goal, goal, goal.
That’s what the young players did in Barcelona: Malcom, [Ousmane] Dembele, they looked at him and they didn’t train so then going to the game, they got injured. He’s the only one in the world that can do that.”
WOW.
Futbol Club Barcelona is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto “Més que un club” (“More than a club”). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third-most valuable sports team in the world, worth $5.51 billion, and the world’s fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €582.1 million.
The official Barcelona anthem is the “Cant del Barça”, written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs. Barcelona traditionally play in dark shades of blue and garnet stripes, hence nicknamed Blaugrana.
In March 2021, Lionel Messi overtook Xavi’s record of 767 games played for the club, and presently has made 778 official appearances in all competitions, while also holding the record for the most appearances in La Liga matches for Barcelona, with 520.
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