Diego Maradona has admitted it “hurt his soul” to hand the Best FIFA Men’s Player award to Cristiano Ronaldo and not to the man from his own country, Lionel Messi.
Real Madrid star Ronaldo won the award for the second year running on Monday, beating off competition from Barcelona’s Messi and Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar.
“To give the Best [award] to Ronaldo and not be able to give it to Messi hurt my soul,” Maradona said.
Messi has been criticised in the past by some, including by Maradona, for lacking “personality to be a leader” when wearing the Argentina shirt.
Argentina and Messi have lost three straight finals at major competitions in a three-year span — the 2014 World Cup against Germany, the 2015 Copa America against Chile and the 2016 Copa America Centenario also against Chile.
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