Milan's Philippe Mexes compares Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi while discussing the goal that could win him the Puskas Award.
The Frenchman scored a spectacular volley against city rivals Inter in July of this year, albeit in a relatively meaningless pre-season contest.
He was subsequently nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award, which recognizes the most beautiful goals of the year.
Milan's Philippe Mexes compares Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi while discussing the goal that could win him the Puskas Award.
The Frenchman scored a spectacular volley against city rivals Inter in July of this year, albeit in a relatively meaningless pre-season contest.
He was subsequently nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award, which recognizes the most beautiful goals of the year.
“There have been quite a few Ballons d’Or in the history of Milan,” he said in an interview with Fifa.com. “The club always takes a lot of pride whenever one of its players wins that magnificent trophy. That’s why it’s so important for me to be representing AC Milan.
“It’s frustrating [not to win trophies]. And it’s frustrating because Milan should be in the Champions League every year. We need to get back up to the highest level. I hope we can make it and that there’ll be another Milan player collecting the Ballon d’Or again before too long. That would mean we’d have the best player in the world at the club.
“Messi and Ronaldo? To my mind, they’re already two of the world’s greatest players, right up there with [Diego] Maradona, Pele, [Zinedine] Zidane, [Michel] Platini, [Johan] Cruyff and [Franz] Beckenbauer.
“They’re both outstanding. One was born with natural talent and the other has worked so hard to reach the same level. They both deserve the Ballon d’Or and there won’t be much in it – the odd victory here and there and the results of their teams.
“As a defender I get to see them in a different way. Messi is so alert, so good at running with the ball and quick with it too, whereas Ronaldo is all about power, acceleration and shooting.
“They’re two totally different players, but the fact is that they’re both great champions who deserve to win the Ballon d’Or. It’s very tough to separate them. It’s a shame there aren’t two Ballons d’Or because they both deserve to win it every year.”
The defender then went on to discuss his own odds of winning the Puskas award.
“I’ve seen the other nine nominees, and Messi’s and [Carlos] Tevez’s caught my eye in particular. They’re solo goals, magnificent dribbles both of them.
“Then there’s another goal scored in Germany, a magnificent strike on the volley by a midfielder [Marcel Ndjeng]. They are the ten best goals and they’re all pretty good, each in their own different way.
I have to be honest and say, though, that I really do like mine.
Mexes also authored an overhead kick against Anderlecht in the Champions League edition of 2012-13.
“Scoring with an overhead kick was a childhood dream of mine and I fulfilled it. Unfortunately, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one of his own ten days earlier against England, in a match where he got four goals,” he said, in reference to the fact that the Swede won the trophy that year.
“It would be an honour to win an individual award, though it would be a trophy for Milan too.”