Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of the beautiful game.

Ronaldo's silverware hunt

It's only right that a sportsperson of historic proportions has been so frequently garlanded with the Portuguese superstar winning five Champions League trophies and five league titles.

However, Ronaldo makes no secret of his desire to be considered as the greatest player of all time, which is something that has been reflected in his incredible haul of individual plaques, too.

The top-line statistic in that department will always be the incredible five Ballon d'Or trophies that Ronaldo has to his name, but there's arguably a title that means even more to the man himself.

We say that because Ronaldo has previously cast doubt on the idea that the Ballon d'Or is indeed the individual trophy that means the most to him.

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Ronaldo: Golden Shoe > Ballon d'Or

Goal reported in October 2015 that Ronaldo declared the 'Golden Shoe better than the Ballon d'Or', which is a comment that hasn't aged overly well in the larger context of the GOAT debate.

The then Real Madrid forward reportedly told De Telegraaf: "The competition for the Golden Shoe also comes from other leagues.

"There are some fantastic strikers around in England and Germany. There are Wayne Rooney and Aguero in the Premier League and obviously Robert Lewandowski in the Bundesliga.

"But don't forget Karim Benzema here at Real Madrid and Luis Suarez at Barcelona. Benzema is playing very well this season and Suarez has already won the trophy once while at Liverpool.

"I really love this award. It is the best award out there for me. Others can pick you as the best player, but an attacker's job is to make goals and I love that. I cannot deny that I love scoring goals."

Awkward in the Messi debate...

Ok, cool, but what's the big deal about Ronaldo throwing around that opinion in 2015? Well, it concerns the verdict's relevance to the eternal debate between 'CR7' and Lionel Messi.

Besides, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Messi put greater value on the European Golden Shoe in 2015 because that was something that he had over his Barcelona nemesis.

At the time of the comments, Messi had four Ballon d'Or trophies compared to Ronaldo's three, but the Real Madrid star led 4-3 as far as the European Golden Shoe was concerned.

ENTER GIVEAWAY

Starting to see why Ronaldo might have favoured the Golden Shoe? Well, if that was indeed the thinking behind his verdict, then it certainly hasn't aged well because the tables have turned since.

Ronaldo hasn't won a single Golden Shoe on the back of his declaration whereas Messi has bagged the gong on three more occasions, meaning that the Barcelona skipper has a superb 6-4 lead.

So, does that mean by Ronaldo's own logic that Messi is the greatest player of all time? Ok, that's taking things a little too far, but poor 'CR7' definitely shot himself in the foot.