Magnus Carlsen is the world’s No. 1 chess player and a lifelong Real Madrid fan. Despite being a die-hard Madrista, the five-time World Chess champion prefers Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo.
While speaking on YouTuber Lex Fridman’s channel in 2022, Magnus talked about an incident, saying that Real Madrid almost forced him to tell the name of Ronaldo when asked about his favorite player.
He said, “I went to quite several Madrid games, and they’ve always been super helpful to me down there. The only thing is that they were going to do an interview, and they were going to ask me who my favorite player was”.
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Magnus Carlsen said Isco, but the interviewer from Real Madrid said they were going to have another take, and this time he should say, Ronaldo. Magnus emphasized the fact that it mattered to them whether the chess player said Ronaldo or not, but he did not get bothered by it.
He also said that his love for Real Madrid existed long before the Portuguese made the big-money move from Manchester United. Currently, Ronaldo is captaining his Al Nassr side and leading the charts in both goals scored and assists given, while Lionel Messi has returned to Miami after winning his 8th Ballon d’Or.
Players who have been forced to say that Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi
The G.O.A.T. debate is a never-ending debate, and several players have been asked to share their opinions on who’s the better player among Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid players have usually tipped their teammate Ronaldo to be the better player.
Colombian Golden Boy James Rodriguez has recently revealed that while at Real Madrid, they were contractually obligated to say that Ronaldo was better than Messi. He also went on to say, “I’ve always thought that Messi is the best in history,” after his move to Sao Paolo.
James Rodriguez to Cristiano Ronaldo on iG.
“Strength for you and your family Cristiano 🙏🏻❤️” pic.twitter.com/tBdqHv2ytn
— Cristiano for Africa (@CristianoAfri) April 18, 2022
Toni Kroos also commented on this matter by saying that after Messi’s win at the Qatar World Cup, he became the best player in the world, and while the German has previously preferred Ronaldo, he said, “Of course, I’m biased because he made a decisive contribution to us winning a lot of titles”.
Sergio Ramos on Messi: “Just can’t wait to talk to a world champion. He has been saving his best for the World Cup. We have seen it. Now PSG should sit back and watch Messi of old days back. He now plays for no prizes. Just to help the club to reach its long term dream, the UCL!” pic.twitter.com/MfF8Od6Lkh
— The FTBL Index 🎙 ⚽ (@TheFTBLIndex) December 28, 2022
Back in 2018, a young Federico Valverde also had to ‘clear up a misunderstanding’ after opting for Lionel Messi when asked to choose the better player among the two. Sergio Ramos also said several times after joining PSG that Lionel Messi is the best player.
Even Gareth Bale, after his retirement, said that Lionel Messi is the greatest ever Champions League player in history, despite playing with Cristiano Ronaldo for so many years, even though Ronaldo has better records than Messi. This shows that during Ronaldo’s tenure at Madrid, players were told to choose him ahead of Lionel Messi.