Rio Ferdinand says Lionel Messi unfollowed Alejandro Garnacho on Instagram

Lionel Messi unfollowed Alejandro Garnacho on Instagram due to the Manchester United winger’s preference for Cristiano Ronaldo, says Rio Ferdinand.

On Ferdinand’s own YouTube channel, Vibe with Five, the ex-pro explained that the current Manchester United winger told him Lionel Messi no longer follows him on social media due to his love of Cristiano Ronaldo.

“You know what I like about him? He doesn’t give a f***”, Ferdinand said, “Garnacho told me that Messi unfollowed him just because he makes no secret of preferring Ronaldo. He comes out, don’t care, ‘I’m a Ronaldo man’. Who’s the GOAT? Ronaldo. [Even] when he’s in the Argentina squad.”

Garnacho: Ronaldo ‘the GOAT’, Messi ‘an idol’

It was spotted by eagle-eyed fans back in April 2022 that Messi had unfollowed Garnacho after the player had posted a picture of the Portuguese superstar on his social media account calling him ‘The Gretest of All Time’, just weeks after uploading an image of himself alongside Messi, referring to the Argentina captain as an ‘idol’. It seems that the 8-time Ballon d’Or winner, who Garnacho himself does indeed follow online, still has a bee in his bonnet regarding the public preferences of the 19-year-old.

Ronaldo’s influence on Garnacho is clear to see, as not only does the young winger copy his idol’s celebration at Old Trafford, but he also wears Ronaldo-inspired Nike Vapor 15 Mercurial Dream Speed football boots.

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Rio on overhead goal: ‘We went ballistic, it was nuts’

Garnacho scored an overhead kick in Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Everton in the Premier League. Rio Ferdinand was asked to compare the goal to Wayne Rooney’s famous acrobatic effort against Manchester City in 2011.

The former Leeds and West Ham defender was clear in his assessment: “I was in my house in the front room with my family and we went ballistic. It was nuts. Even my little boy, his tooth had just fell out, he fell and his tooth just got knocked out, he was trying to do overhead kicks in the living room like probably millions of little kids around the world at the time. That goal is better than Rooney’s. He was running away from the goal, a bit further away from the goal, at an angle. It was unbelievable, a breathtaking moment.”