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?
Messi is a freak. The greatest natural talent possibly ever. Ronaldo was a great winger, but could’ve so easily gone the way of Robben, Ribery and a long list of other wingers that are great when they’re good but can disappear and not really be the greatest. Ronaldo worked his ass off to be the level he got to.