17/06/2026
Didier Drogba on the pressure on Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Portugal vs DR Congo after Messi’s hat-trick:
🗣️ “The problem with being Cristiano Ronaldo is that normal standards no longer exist for you. After what Lionel Messi did last night, everyone immediately turns to Ronaldo and asks, ‘What is your response?’”
“Messi scores a hat-trick, breaks records, dominates headlines around the world, and suddenly people expect Ronaldo to walk onto the pitch and do exactly the same thing.”
“That is the reality when you spend almost twenty years competing at the highest level. Every performance from one becomes pressure for the other, even if neither of them asks for it.”
“I guarantee you that millions of fans will be watching Portugal against DR Congo not just to see Portugal win, but to see whether Ronaldo can produce a moment that shakes the football world again.”
“The expectations are honestly unfair for most players, but Ronaldo is not judged like most players. He is judged against history, records, and now against another Messi masterclass.”
“And that is why these two are different from everybody else. One produces a hat-trick at the World Cup, and within hours the football world is demanding an answer from the other.”
“If Ronaldo scores tonight, people will compare it to Messi. If he scores twice, people will compare it to Messi. If he scores a hat-trick, people will compare how it happened compared to Messi.”
“That is the pressure of greatness. For almost two decades they have been chasing each other to levels that nobody thought were possible, and football still cannot stop talking about them.”
