José Mourinho's opinion on the Ballon D'or logic, from 10 years ago: "The Ballon d'Or should be given to those who deserve it."
"I keep saying that its harder to be Cristiano than to be Messi."
"Messi grew up in the team he plays for, with the teammates he plays with."
"Cristiano came from England to a team that was losing. He had to grow in the last 2 years with this team in construction."
"Messi plays as a 9 or 9.5 in about 50 squared meteres, closer to the goal with less defensive work."
"Cristiano on the other hand is a winger. How can a winger score the same amount of goals as a CF?"
"A winger that defends. A winger that ends a game at the 94th minute with a sprint chasing Pedro in a scoring situation. A winger that in set piece situations comes 20 times to his own box, because its very important to the defensive setup."
"A player that isn't protected by nothing or nobody. They see him as a huge animal. He needs to be fouled a lot of times just for the first yellow to come out."
"But with Messi, it's one foul then a yellow card, and if you touch him again, you are out."
"Its much, much harder to be Cristiano, let's stop kidding."
"So if Cristiano doesn't win the Ballon d'Or, it's because he isn't very kind, doesn't sell his image very well, doesn't give interviews apologizing for a strife with a teammate on the field."
"Ballon d'Or should be given to the best ones. The Ballon d'Or should be given to those who deserve it."
"It's a pity I cannot vote, because I wouldn't think twice."
On this day 19 years ago, Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick on his debut for Man United against Fenerbahce ⚽️⚽️⚽️
The start of a incredible 13 years at Old Trafford 🔴