Former Milan and Barcelona midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng reveals Lionel Messi asked him ‘if it was difficult to score goals in Italy’ when measuring up to his rival during Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus spell.
There have long been rumours that Inter were close to signing Messi when he was still a very young player with Barcelona and he was again linked when leaving the Blaugrana for PSG in 2021.
The Argentina international was teammates with Boateng for six months in 2019 and rarely spoke, except to ask about life in Serie A.
“We spoke one time in the shower, he asked me if it was difficult to score goals in Italy,” Boateng told the Vibe with Five podcast.
“Because at that time Ronaldo was in Italy. He asked me, would I score a lot of goals? I replied: you would score anywhere, you’re Messi.
“You could see the rivalry a little bit. They respect each other a lot, but you could see he was asking is it difficult. I said it is more difficult, because in Italy it is more important to keep the 0 at the back than to score.”
Boateng is confident that Messi would’ve been able to flourish in Italy just as well as Ronaldo did.
“He can score whatever he wants, like Ronaldo. These two, they could go anywhere.”
However, it is worth noting that Ronaldo faced a lot of criticism during his time with Juventus and even the Bianconeri fans did not always appreciate his performances.
“Football is like this, in one second they forget everything. This guy scored every game, two or three.”
@cheekysport Kevin Prince Boateng on Lionel Messi’s obsession with the Cristiano Ronaldo Rivalry 🤝😳
♬ original sound – Joel Beya