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?
If he said messi madrid fans would have racially abused him again.Both Bellingham and Vini said they prefered messi over Cristiano pre madrid days.
This narrative is so boring. Even among ex teammates of ronaldo the general consensus is that Messi’s the superior player (Kroos, Felix, Figo).
Maybe english fans who grew up watching prem in the late 2000s who were exposed to Ronaldo more, prefer him over messi but that is it.