Dani Alves has spoken about how he got into a “scuffle” with Cristiano Ronaldo at a Ballon d’Or ceremony while he played for Barcelona.
The Brazilian opened up on the “incident while speaking on a podcast with UNAM Pumas team-mate Efrian Valverde.
Alves, who left Barca in the summer after a short second stint at the club, also spoke of his admiration for Ronaldo.
“There came a time because of the rivalry that I would go over to greet him [Ronaldo] and he wouldn’t greet me,” he said.
“There was a controversy that never came out, but in the dressing room of the Ballon d’Or ceremony we had a scuffle, I greeted everyone and he didn’t greet me because of what the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry was generating outside. But how can I not respect a guy who has achieved everything based on hard work and putting his heart and soul into it?”
Alves added on Messi’s unique talents: “He was born with the talent to play football and to be in another world that only he can reach.”
