This article is spot on, but there’s one other reason why Messi hate has spread like wildfire this World Cup:
~15 years ago with the GOAT debate at its peak, hundreds of millions of young fans worldwide picked CR7 as their idol while he and Messi went band for band.
And the battle was legendary.
But for the past decade, Ronaldo fans have watched their GOAT slowly decline while an aging Messi remained on top of the world, surpassing Ronaldo on individual awards and lifting the game’s most prestigious trophy, which Ronaldo could never get near.
Ronaldo’s millions of supporters now roam social media like a leaderless army who has lost the war.
With the debate on the pitch settled and Ronaldo’s legacy capped, his fans desperately undermine Messi’s achievements in a futile attempt to close the ever-widening gap between stars.
And I don’t blame them.
But that is why, as football fans everywhere enjoy the glittering sunset of Messi’s unparalleled career, millions of Ronaldo diehards are reduced to complaints about referees and TikTok aura edits from 2017, while they watch a little boy from Rosario forever eclipse their childhood hero and take his rightful place as the greatest footballer to ever live.
I just realized that no Messi fan has blamed Enzo or other midfielders for the loss on Sunday.
All of us just accept our defeat Jeje, unlike the other fanbase 🤣🤣