Paul Scholes Picked His GOAT Between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi
- Paul Scholes was swift to share his thoughts on the enduring GOAT debate between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
- The debate surrounding Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been a central topic in the football world for many years
- The two football superstars have dominated the football scene for years, sharing 13 Ballon d'Or titles between them
Paul Scholes was quick to weigh in on the long-standing GOAT debate between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Scholes experienced firsthand Ronaldo's remarkable talent, having played alongside the Portuguese for six years at Manchester United from 2003 to 2009 before his £80 million transfer to Real Madrid.
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During their time together, they won three consecutive Premier League titles from 2006 to 2009, with Scholes watching Ronaldo net 118 goals in 292 appearances during his first stint at the club, per TalkSPORT.
They also lifted the Champions League trophy in 2008, with the Al-Nassr captain earning his first Ballon d'Or following that victory and his remarkable season.
Scholes believes Messi is a complete player
However, Scholes believes that the Real Madrid legend still falls short of Messi, his longtime competitor.
The legendary England midfielder experienced two finals losses to Messi's Barcelona in 2009 and 2011.
But it was years later, when the Argentine maestro dazzled against Spurs at Wembley in the Champions League, that the United legend recognised Messi as a superior all-round footballer.
"Watching Messi against Tottenham at Wembley made me think about the Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo debate again," Scholes said, speaking on ESPN via The Mirror.
“Messi, but Ronaldo is brilliant. Ronaldo is sensational at what he does, with pace and power. He scores, he takes free-kicks.
“But as an all-round footballer, Messi – wow, his passing – has absolutely everything.”
Scholes managed to outshine a young Messi in the 2008 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, scoring the decisive goal that propelled Manchester United to the final against Chelsea.
However, he has publicly admitted that he made every effort to avoid the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, aiming to dodge any potential humiliation. In 2015, Scholes wrote a column for the Standard detailing the challenges of competing against Messi.
Air Canada faced a midnight deadline Friday to avert a flight attendants strike that would shut down service, creating summer travel chaos for the carrier's 130,000 daily passengers.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents Air Canada's 10,000 flight attendants, says that in addition to wage increases it wants to address uncompensated ground work, including during the boarding process.
Rafael Gomez, who heads the University of Toronto's Center for Industrial Relations, told AFP it's "common practice, even around the world" to compensate flights attendants based on time in the air.
He said the union had built an effective communication campaign around the issue, creating a public perception of unfairness.
An average passenger, not familiar with common industry practice, could think, "'I'm waiting to board the plane and there's a flight attendant helping me, but they're technically not being paid for that work,'" he said.
"That's a very good issue to highlight."
Air Canada detailed its latest offer in a Thursday statement, specifying that under the terms a senior flight attendant would on average make CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027.
CUPE has described Air Canada's offers as "below inflation (and) below market value."
The airline, which flies to 180 airports worldwide, began cancelling isolated flights on Thursday, part of what it called a gradual wind-down of service ahead of a potential full shutdown.
Chief operating officer Mark Nasr told reporters that "all flights will be paused by Saturday early morning," without a deal.
CUPE issued a 72-hour strike notice at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) Wednesday, meaning the labor action could begin one minute past midnight on Saturday.
Gomez said both sides were engaging in "brinkmanship."
"This is peak season," he said.
"The airline does not want to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue... They're almost playing chicken with the flight attendants."
CUPE rejected a request to settle outstanding issues through arbitration.
Source: AFP
