Rodri Hernandezfresh winner of the Ballon d’Or, dedicated the prestigious award not only to himself, but to an entire generation of Spanish footballers who, in his opinion, have not received the right recognition: “Spain has experienced one of the moments most extraordinary in the history of football, not only with the national team. It is curious that only one of those players won the Ballon d’Or. I wanted to pay homage to that wonderful generation that failed to win it.”
Rodri then expressed his opinion on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, central figures of modern football. Without hesitation, he called the Argentine the best in history: “Messi is the best, I have no doubts about that. Cristiano is equal to him in many aspects, but he doesn’t have the innate talent that Leo has. For us players, facing them was a revealing experience.”
He added: “Messi was lethal wherever he was on the pitch. All he had to do was touch the ball to know that something would happen. This is the difference that makes him unique”, his words to Pablo Motos’ El Hormiguero program