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What's the story?
Marseille striker Mario Balotelli has said that Juventus ace Cristiano Ronaldo remains the best player on our planet Earth, because his counterpart Lionel Messi is an alien.
The former Manchester City forward shared a story on his Instagram account, soon after Barcelona were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by a brilliant Liverpool comeback yesterday.
He said that though neither Messi nor Ronaldo will play in the Champions League final for the first time since 2013, to criticize them for that is crazy, as it undermines everything they've achieved over the years.
In case you didn't know...
The two stars, who are often said to be the greatest players of all time by fans, fellow footballers and pundits alike, will have to wait to another year for a shot at the glory at Europe's elite club competition, as both of their clubs failed to make it into the final this time around.
This last happened when Bundesliga clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund advanced into the final at Wembley in 2013. The duo suffered defeats with their clubs at the hand of these German clubs in the last four fixtures that campaign, as Real Madrid went out with a 4-3 loss to Dortmund and Barca were hammered 7-0 by eventual champions Munich.
Balotelli had joked last week that Messi, 31, should not be compared to Ronaldo anymore.
The heart of the matter
Balotelli, who won the competition with Inter Milan in 2010, said after Messi's unforeseen exit from the UCL, that the five-time Ballon d'Or winners are still the best players at the moment and don't deserve unjust flak just because they failed to keep their club's European triumph hopes alive.
He also went on to describe Ronaldo, 34, as the best player on this planet, as Messi according to him is an alien and doesn't compare with the former. He wrote on his Instagram story: (Via SportStar)
"Messi is an alien, despite the bad and very difficult match."
"Ronaldo remains the best player from this planet, despite not having played in the semi-finals."
"Anything else is nonsense talk. You cannot say bad things against these two for a game played badly or a missed qualification or a defeat. That would be crazy."
What's next?
Ronaldo has three fixtures left to play in the Serie A, while Messi will play two more LaLiga games before curtains are drawn for the season. With 34 goals to his name, the latter is almost guaranteed to retain his European Golden Shoe award from last year.
