Endrick, a new football star recruited to Real Madrid, quoted Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol. This is also seen with Haaland, Mbappe, Saka, Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Kvara. So many young players today all state Ronaldo as an influence for them. Messi has more accolades than Ronaldo, but the only young players I can think that stated him as an influence is Julian Alvarez and Jude Bellingham. Why do you think most young players respect and admire Ronaldo more than Messi?
Ronaldo is much more expansive, extroverted and likes to be on the media and stating out his value. He also makes an excellent case about talent, endurance, training hard, taking care of your career and taking up challenges. That’s not only a good role model, but much more captivating for a kid looking for an idol. Of course Messi is also all that, but there’s an idea that “Messi just plays and Ronaldo works”, and Messi is much more reclusive
His behaviour on and off the pitch is definitely not role model worthy though and I don’t get why so many overlook this. He has arrogance that goes to borderline delusion at times. He has extreme petulance to the point where he let himself slap a phone out of a kid’s hand. He frequently tries to cheat referees with simulation and cries very hard when things don’t go his way. He has arguments with his teammates over taking penalties and at times doesn’t celebrate with teammates for goals because they didn’t pass to him or something. Within the team environment it so often looks like it’s all about “me me me” instead of playing for the collective.
Ah, yes, he has indeed become kind of spoiled (I’m saying “kind of” because my current reference frame for spoiled players is Neymar) and arrogant. I did overlook that when thinking about why kids like him, because, as I said, he has many, many qualities that get a child’s attention, even that thing with wanting to take all the penalties and getting frustrated for not receiving the ball because he knows he can score and all
However, Ronaldo is a team player. He does want and take the spotlight, but he’s also a great motivator and can infuse his teammates with a lot of confidence.