The ex-Tottenham attacker believes Lionel Messi would never leave Barcelona and has compared the Argentinian ace to Ronaldo. Ronaldo made the move from Real Madrid to Juventus during the summer after nine successful years at the Bernabeu.
He is yet to score for his new club, though Juventus have won both of their opening Serie A matches. Messi has played his whole career with Barcelona, winning just about everything there is to earn.And Van der Vaart believes the Barca man will never wave goodbye to the Nou Camp.
“You know, guys like Messi… Messi will never leave Barcelona,” Van der Vaart told football.ua. “I’m slightly sad about Ronaldo’s departure.”
While Ronaldo’s new side Juventus have started their season in fine form, his old club Real Madrid don’t seem to be missing him too much.
Los Blancos have won both of their La Liga games to date, though Ronaldo’s former team-mates Marcelo and Karim Benzema claim they are missing the ex-Manchester United man.
“[Ronaldo] is the best in the world,” Marcelo said. “It’s obvious that you miss playing with him but [Gareth] Bale and [Karim] Benzema are really good too.”
While former strike partner Benzema added: “You can never forget Cristiano.
“He was so important to Real Madrid and scored many goals, and as Marcelo said, is one of the best attackers in the world, but we have to start thinking about a different team with different players.”
Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the Ballon d’Or for the past decade, winning five apiece. But pundit Jermaine Jenas believes someone else is worthy of receiving the gong this time around.
“What they have done is amazing but I feel like at the start of the season we just say whoever is best out of Messi and Ronaldo, gets the award,” Jenas said.
“When you consider that players like Andres Iniesta or Xavi never won the Ballon d’Or then no one can.
“These two players, Messi and Ronaldo, don’t seem human and have had great seasons but if you really look at others players.
“Like (Luka) Modric this year, [Franck] Ribery for Bayern a few years ago could have got it and he didn’t get a sniff.
“Now (N’Golo) Kante is in that scenario, no matter what he does, he will get some recognition but never THE recognition for what he does.”