The Portugal head coach believes his star forward deserves to retain his prize ahead of the "fabulous" Barcelona attacker
Fernando Santos has tipped Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Ballon d'Or, admitting that he voted for the Portugal captain ahead of Lionel Messi .
The Seleccao have six points from three Euro 2016 qualifying matches after Friday's 1-0 win over Armenia, but revert to friendly status to take on the World Cup finalists on Tuesday.
The fixture is another chance to see Ronaldo face Barcelona rival Messi - this time at Old Trafford - and Portugal coach Santos is adamant the Real Madrid man is currently enjoying the stronger form.
"I voted for Cristiano," the former Greece boss told reporters.
"I think this season he was the best player in the world. But of course you always have to consider Messi because he's a fabulous player.
"I've already said Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two geniuses. But, this year, I think Cristiano was better."
While the 60-year-old conceded Messi was Argentina's main man going forward, he said he would be plotting a way to nullify the entire Albiceleste threat - not just their star forward.
"That's how Argentina plays. Their coach [Gerardo Martino] already said that position is the most indicated to Messi," Santos said.
"If he played for the other side you would have asked me if my central defenders would focus on Messi there.
"We have to worry about what Argentina does.
"Obviously, if Argentina have a player with that kind of quality it makes a difference but Argentina is a very strong team with so many great players, so we have to pay attention to all of Argentina's movements."
Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho is adamant, meanwhile, that his side must avoid relying on Ronaldo to get them out of trouble, with the 29-year-old having scored Portugal's only two goals in Euro 2016 qualifying so far, in two 1-0 wins.
"I think it's natural the press talks about Cristiano and Messi above Portugal against Argentina, but it's a good test for us," Carvalho said.
"It's important to us and also to Cristiano play against big national teams and, fortunately, tomorrow [Tuesday] we'll have the pleasure to play against Argentina.
"More important than looking at one player is that we look ourselves as a team. We play as a block, we defend well and we will try to attack with quality when we have to."
No comments:
Post a Comment