Aguero denies saying neither Messi or Ronaldo deserve Ballon d’Or

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has denied saying that he feels neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo deserve to win the Ballon d’Or, insisting Messi should win the prize.

The Argentine was attributed to quotes that suggested the winner of the award should come from either Liverpool or Tottenham, who will contest this year’s Champions League final.

“I think someone should win it in the Champions League final,” the striker was reported to have claimed, but Aguero took to Twitter on Tuesday to distance himself from those quotes.

“I do not like having to go out and clarify but when words are attributed to me that I never said, I have to do it,” Aguero tweeted. 

“To be clear, and I always answered the same, while Messi continues to play, and especially how he has played this season, he deserves to win the Ballon d’Or.”

Aguero has, of course, been an international team-mate of Messi's for over a decade and is known to be close personal friends with the Barcelona man.

Despite the Man City man denying he made such claims, both Messi and Ronaldo were overlooked for the prize in 2018.

On that occasion, Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric won the Ballon d’Or for his exemplary showings for Los Blancos as they won the Champions League and for Croatia, who finished as runners-up in the World Cup.

It was the first time neither Messi nor Ronaldo won the award since 2007, when Kaka collected the accolade.

In the intervening decade the pair have evenly shared the award, and with five wins apiece no player has been rewarded with the Ballon d’Or more times.

As for Aguero, while he has never scooped the highest individual award in football, the 30-year-old has enjoyed another superb season in Manchester.

The attacker has bagged an impressive 32 goals in all competitions throughout the campaign and has helped City win the Premier League above Liverpool.

They also could be in line to complete a domestic treble having already won the Carabao Cup.

City face Watford in the FA Cup final Saturday and will be hoping for a repeat of their previous two meetings this season, which both ended in wins for Pep Guardiola’s men.