Battle of the statues: Fans troll Ronaldo yet again after Messi honoured with new sculpture

There are perhaps few greater honours for a football player to receive than a statue to mark his triumphs on the pitch. The likes of Pele, Diego Maradona, David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo have all been immortalised in this way for their contribution to the game.

On Monday, Argentine hero Lionel Messi was the latest to be honoured with a life-size statue. Messi, holding a replica of the World Cup trophy, looked emotional during the unveiling ceremony at the South American Football Federation headquarters in Luque, Paraguay before the Copa Libertadores draw.

At 5ft 7 inch, Messi looked noticeably smaller than the life-like figure in his Argentina kit; both were pictured holding the World Cup trophy. However, Twitterati immediately went into overdrive, reckoning Messi's sculpture easily won the 'battle of the statues' against rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Football fans were quick to dig out the infamous Ronaldo metal bust which was displayed at Madeira airport in March 2017 — a statue heavily criticised for looking nothing like the Al Nassr star.

Designed by Emanuel Santos, Ronaldo's bronze statue got a resounding negative response and lasted just over a year before it was replaced with a second, more traditional version of the bust Santos created.

Now, fans have declared the Argentine hero winner of the 'statue battle'. Some also pointed out that Messi's statue holds 'more World Cup' than Ronaldo, a dig into the fact that the Portuguese forward doesn't have the prestigious Fifa trophy under his belt.

For his part, Lionel Messi was beyond grateful in light of the honour. "I had never dreamed or thought about this," Messi said. "My dream was to enjoy what I liked when I was little, to be a professional soccer player, to do what I always loved in this life.

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