Football’s governing body FIFA appeared to take a swipe at Cristiano Ronaldo after Lionel Messi’s recent World Cup win – before deleting the tweet in question.
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In the eyes of many, the debate over who is the greatest player of them all was finally settled with Argentina’s status as world champions, an effort that was spearheaded by Messi.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner scored seven goals over the course of the competition, including netting two in the final.
In a stark contrast, Ronaldo bagged just once in the form of a penalty during Portugal’s World Cup opener against Ghana. The 37-year-old forward was filmed leaving the pitch in floods of tears after his country’s exit at the hands of Morocco at the quarter-final stage.
FIFA sparked huge social media controversy when they tweeted from their official World Cup account: “Thumbs up if you really enjoyed the #FIFAWorldCup” alongside a picture of Ronaldo with his thumb in the air.
It seems like the organisation may have it out for Ronaldo as this was not the first tweet that could have been interpret as a dig at the former Manchester United player.
Shortly after Messi’s heroics in the final, the same account wrote: “The GOAT debate is settled. The ultimate prize is now part of the collection. The legacy is complete.”
This has now also been deleted after huge backlash from Ronaldo’s plethora of supporters slamming the not-so-subtle jibe at the expense of the Portugal captain.
Ronaldo is yet to issue any kind of update online since Argentina’s win, but it is likely that he is hurting both from Portugal falling short and his rival Messi at long last conquering the trophy that evaded him for a long time.
After appearing in a viral Louis Vuitton advert that showed both Messi and Ronaldo in a game of chess, the latter admitted he would love to “checkmate” the Argentine ahead of the tournament’s start.
“Being honest I would like to be the one to give a checkmate against him (Messi),” Ronaldo admitted before Portugal’s opening clash against Ghana.
“Let’s see. It would be beautiful. As it happened in the chess (photo) it would be magic for it to happen in football as well.”
