Cristiano Ronaldo is a “very angry guy” and “doesn’t really believe” that he is better than Lionel Messi, claims a body language expert.
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Portuguese has billed himself as the GOATLocked in battle with eternal rival MessiFrustrated that career is coming to a closeFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
The Portuguese superstar, who has five Ballons d’Or to his name, has told that he considers himself to be the greatest player of all-time. He boats the numbers – in terms of trophy and goal counts – to back up those claims, but is considered to be lying to himself when making bold public declarations.
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Darren Stanton, a human lie detector and body language expert, has told after watching CR7’s latest interview: “Ronaldo is really mixed up. We see a mixture of anger — he is a very angry guy in this moment. I think he doesn’t seem to feel he is getting the respect he’s due. We see what we call a horseshoe smile, which lasts for less than a fifth of a second, which is an expression of anger. That is the reverse of a happy smile. His eyebrows are pulled together and his eyes are squinting. I don’t think he thinks he’s being held up by others to the legendary status he thinks he deserves but the irony is that he looks like a person who actually does lack confidence in himself in certain areas.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Stanton added on Ronaldo’s claims that he tops Messi, Diego Maradona and Pele in any discussion regarding the most “complete” player to lace up a pair of boots: “His body language betrays the verbal content of what he’s saying. I don’t believe that he believes he is the greatest player. I think it’s all front. We see that increase in blink rate which is linked to anxiety, the shoulder shrug, the horseshoe smile, and he’s not actually a very good person at masking his emotions. He’s a guy that cannot help but wear his heart on his sleeve, regardless of what he’s trying to say with the words out of his mouth. It may all come down to insecurities in certain aspects of his personality and character and how he perceives how he is perceived.”
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Ronaldo is considered to have been telling the truth when saying that he does not hate Inter Miami star Messi, but Stanton says that rivalry has taken its toll. He added: “Humility is something that Ronaldo would benefit from because he doesn’t actually pull off arrogance very well. Earlier in the interview, there’s even an expression from the interviewer that shows disbelief at the arrogance of Ronaldo’s claims. He can put people’s backs up despite his success.
“I don’t think he is going to be growing old very gracefully. Some players will become pundits or managers or even go into other ventures. Ronaldo is in danger of becoming bitter and twisted as he loses his relevancy on the pitch. Everybody has their day, and you have to accept that. Ronaldo is struggling to accept the fact that he is going to become less and less relevant in the game as the next generation emerge and become stars so we are likely to see more and more statements from him that he doesn’t actually believe but causes controversy to at least keep him relevant in the press.”
Stanton concluded: "Despite what Ronaldo says, it does seem that Messi is where he draws his aspirations from – that is measured against Messi, how he performs and what he does. I don’t think he dislikes or hates him but Ronaldo seems very frustrated that the game, the pundits and many of the fans don’t hold Ronaldo up as the clear number one. That frustrates him."
