“A campaign that I had been looking for a long time” – Cristiano Ronaldo says Louis Vuitton ad with Lionel Messi fills him with ‘pride’ ahead of 2022 FIFA World Cup

Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that shooting the Louis Vuitton ad with Paris Saint-Germain ace Lionel Messi ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup filled him with pride.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi collaborated for Louis Vuitton ahead of the FIFA World Cup. The advertisement, which dropped on Instagram on Saturday, 19 November, understandably broke the internet. Within 24 hours of posting, Ronaldo’s Instagram post garnered over a whopping 30 million likes, while Messi’s post bagged over 24.5 million (via ESPN).

Speaking to the press, Ronaldo opened up about the wildly successful collaboration with Messi, revealing that he had been wanting to do something similar for a long time. Ronaldo said (via Diario AS):

“It was a campaign that I wanted to do, a campaign that I had been looking for a long time. It was a pride. It is my fifth World Cup. I am optimistic.”

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are both participating in their fifth FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Messi has played 19 games for Argentina in the tournament, scoring six times and claiming five assists. Ronaldo, on the other hand, has represented Portugal 17 times, netting seven times and providing two assists.

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Cristiano Ronaldo heaps praise on “magic” Lionel Messi ahead of FIFA World Cup

In his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, Cristiano Ronaldo was unsurprisingly asked to comment on his relationship with Lionel Messi. The Manchester United superstar claimed that he had immense admiration for him, adding that they shared a very good relationship.

He said (via NDTV):

“Amazing player, he is magic, top. As a person, we share the stage for 16 years, imagine, 16 years, we share. So, I have great relationship with him."

He continued:

“I'm not friend of him in terms of, what I mean is a friend is the guy who is with you in your house, speaking on the phone, no, but it's like a team-mate. He's a guy that I really respect the way he always speaks about me."

He further said:

Even his wife or my wife, my girlfriend, they always respect and they're from Argentina. My girlfriend is from Argentina. So good. What I am going to say about Messi? A good guy who does everything for football.”

Ronaldo’s Portugal kick off their FIFA World Cup journey with a clash against Ghana on Thursday, 24 November. Two-time FIFA World Cup winners Argentina, on the other hand, will face Group C opponents Saudi Arabia in their opening game on Tuesday, 22 November.