British broadcaster Piers Morgan has tilted his opinion in favour of Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo in the greatest of all-time (GOAT) debate, declaring him the best ever while dubbing his eternal rival, PSG frontman Lionel Messi, a "flat track bully."
A "flat track bully" is a term often used in cricket to signify a batsman's dominance on pitches where there's not much assistance for bowlers. The ball neither swings nor spins much on such decks, allowing a batter to get on top of both pacers and spinners with ease.
"For me, it comes down to this: Messi is a genius, no question, but I've long suspected he's what cricket fans would call a 'flat-track bully," Morgan wrote in his column for the British newspaper The Sun.
Morgan even claimed that at Barcelona, where the Argentine lifted a world record 35 trophies, it was his colleagues who made him successful there because the team had a battery of top quality players.
Otherwise, the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner wouldn't have tasted such success with the Catalans.
"For the first 17 years of his career, he only ever played for one club, Barcelona, where he was always surrounded by whole teams of world-class players," Morgan added.
"From the moment he left Spain and was taken out of his heavily protected comfort zone, he's faded faster than my taste buds after I caught COVID-19," the 56-year-old television presenter continued.
On the other hand, Morgan hailed CR7 for taking up new challenges by shifting clubs and countries during the course of his two-decade-long career.
"Yet Ronaldo has repeatedly moved clubs and countries, to give himself new challenges, from Portugal to England to Spain to Italy. And everywhere he's gone, he's delivered big titles and broken more scoring records," he said.
Morgan argues that the 37-year-old striker took a gamble when he rejoined the Red Devils last summer, considering the club was in flux.
"Even at 36, when he could have taken a massive payday for relaxed semi-retirement in America, he took a huge gamble instead by going back to a poor Manchester United side that's never recovered from his mentor Sir Alex Ferguson's departure," Morgan explained.
While the ex-Barcelona talisman could be seen breaking down under pressure, a case in point is his national team's defeat to Germany in the final of the FIFA World Cup in 2014, Ronaldo has risen to the occasion, notably during Portugal's Euro 2016 triumph.
"The stats don't lie: Ronaldo's now the greatest ever Champions League goal-scorer, the greatest international goal-scorer, and the greatest overall goal-scorer," he said.
"This isn't because he's a better natural player than Messi, or indeed other gifted greats like Ronaldinho and George Best, but because he has a superior mental strength and resilience," Morgan asserted.
A "flat track bully" is a term often used in cricket to signify a batsman's dominance on pitches where there's not much assistance for bowlers. The ball neither swings nor spins much on such decks, allowing a batter to get on top of both pacers and spinners with ease.
"For me, it comes down to this: Messi is a genius, no question, but I've long suspected he's what cricket fans would call a 'flat-track bully," Morgan wrote in his column for the British newspaper The Sun.
Morgan even claimed that at Barcelona, where the Argentine lifted a world record 35 trophies, it was his colleagues who made him successful there because the team had a battery of top quality players.
Otherwise, the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner wouldn't have tasted such success with the Catalans.
"For the first 17 years of his career, he only ever played for one club, Barcelona, where he was always surrounded by whole teams of world-class players," Morgan added.
"From the moment he left Spain and was taken out of his heavily protected comfort zone, he's faded faster than my taste buds after I caught COVID-19," the 56-year-old television presenter continued.
On the other hand, Morgan hailed CR7 for taking up new challenges by shifting clubs and countries during the course of his two-decade-long career.
"Yet Ronaldo has repeatedly moved clubs and countries, to give himself new challenges, from Portugal to England to Spain to Italy. And everywhere he's gone, he's delivered big titles and broken more scoring records," he said.
Morgan argues that the 37-year-old striker took a gamble when he rejoined the Red Devils last summer, considering the club was in flux.
"Even at 36, when he could have taken a massive payday for relaxed semi-retirement in America, he took a huge gamble instead by going back to a poor Manchester United side that's never recovered from his mentor Sir Alex Ferguson's departure," Morgan explained.
While the ex-Barcelona talisman could be seen breaking down under pressure, a case in point is his national team's defeat to Germany in the final of the FIFA World Cup in 2014, Ronaldo has risen to the occasion, notably during Portugal's Euro 2016 triumph.
"The stats don't lie: Ronaldo's now the greatest ever Champions League goal-scorer, the greatest international goal-scorer, and the greatest overall goal-scorer," he said.
"This isn't because he's a better natural player than Messi, or indeed other gifted greats like Ronaldinho and George Best, but because he has a superior mental strength and resilience," Morgan asserted.