🇲🇽🗣 Javier Hernández Chicarito:
"My mother-in-law once asked me, 'Who is better, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?'
And I replied, 'What is it that you admire most?'
Messi is the embodiment of pure talent.
Watching him play feels effortless, as if the laws of physics don't apply to him.
He makes the impossible look easy.
Teams build their entire system around him.
And that makes sense because he possesses a level of talent the game has never seen before.
Messi represents the dream of being born with an extraordinary gift.
Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, represents a different story.
The story of someone who built himself.
Someone who turned discipline into his greatest talent.
Someone who changed countries, leagues, languages and playing styles, yet remained among the elite.
While Messi makes football look instinctive, Cristiano looks like someone who has practised every movement thousands of times.
While one radiates calm, the other radiates relentless hunger.
While one lets the game come to him, the other goes out and conquers it from the very first minute.
That's why millions of us identify with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Because many of us weren't born as the best.
We had to work twice as hard to achieve our dreams.
Cristiano Ronaldo represents the person who swims against the current.
The one who faces criticism.
The one whose achievements are often normalised or diminished, yet keeps moving forward.
That's why I've always said that Messi is Superman and Cristiano Ronaldo is Batman.
Superman was born with powers.
Batman wasn't.
Batman built himself through discipline, courage and determination until he became extraordinary.
And I think that's the real discussion.
Not who is better, but which story inspires you more.
Both deserve admiration.
Both inspire millions.
The story of someone born with an extraordinary gift, or the story of someone who proved that discipline can change your destiny.
Because in the end, we admire Messi for what he is, a player who seems to come from another planet.
But many of us admire Cristiano Ronaldo because he is a symbol of determination, someone who makes us look in the mirror and believe we're capable of breaking through any limit."
Football is ultimately about moments and memories - and I will never forget this night.
But it is heartbreaking that this tie, as well as battering Athletic Club in the semis, ultimately meant nothing. How that final made me feel will haunt forever.
🚨On November 6, 1986, Scottish manager Alex Ferguson stood at his first press conference as Manchester United’s coach and boldly declared: “We will knock Liverpool off their perch.” At that time Liverpool had already won 16 league titles while United had only 7. The rebuilding began, but after two seasons there was little sign the team could compete and doubts about the project grew stronger.
On September 24, 1989, United lost 5–1 to city rivals Manchester City. The press was ruthless, writing: “Mr. Ferguson came from Scotland to bring back to Old Trafford the glory last seen in 1967, but after three seasons he has not even delivered a fraction of a trophy, only disappointment.” By the end of that season United sat 13th in the table, just five points above the relegation zone. Before that crushing defeat the team had gone eight matches without a win, sparking furious banners at Old Trafford: “Three years of excuses and we’re still going strong! United is not Aberdeen.”
In all of Manchester there was only one man still willing to defend Ferguson, club chairman Martin Edwards. Despite fan anger he gave Ferguson one more season, but under one condition set by the Scotsman himself: “I will take full control of transfers.”
From that moment everything changed. After years of frustration it only took a few more months before Alex Ferguson imposed his dominance on English football. For more than a quarter of a century United reigned supreme, building an era of triumphs and glory. The Guardian later summed it up perfectly: “Personality, the dressing room, charisma… all of it was shaped by Alex Ferguson, the man of great victories.” #MUFC
🗣️ Andrei Kanchelskis's story of his meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson is hilarious 😂😂
“Whenever a foreign footballer comes into a dressing room, he will be taught how to swear. I've seen exactly the same thing with Brazilian players when I have been managing in Russia.
They also taught me the correct way to address the manager of Manchester United. Almost the first time I came across Alex Ferguson in the corridors of the Cliff, he said to me, 'All right, Andrei, how's it going?'
I smiled at him and replied, 'Fuck off, Scottish b**tard.'
Ferguson stopped dead in his tracks and then began to smile as he heard laughter echoing down the corridor, while I stood there bewildered.”