Former Barcelona Star Claims He “Had to Lie” About Love for Cristiano Ronaldo & Real Madrid After Landing Transfer to Play Alongside Lionel Messi

Kevin-Prince Boateng opens up on Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid loyalty and life with Lionel Messi at Barcelona

Footballers are often trained to give polished answers, say the right things, and avoid controversy. But every now and then, a former player pulls back the curtain and admits how much acting really goes into surviving at the very top. Kevin-Prince Boateng has done exactly that — and his story offers a fascinating glimpse into the unspoken rules of life at FC Barcelona during the Lionel Messi era.

The former Barcelona midfielder has revealed that he “had to lie” publicly about his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid after sealing a surprise move to Camp Nou in 2019. According to Boateng, expressing affection for Barça’s greatest rivals was simply not an option if he wanted to play alongside Lionel Messi.

It is a confession that says as much about the culture surrounding Messi’s Barcelona as it does about the fierce rivalry that defined Spanish football for more than a decade.

Ronaldo fan Kevin-Prince Boateng joined Messi at Camp Nou in 2019

Boateng’s move to Barcelona in January 2019 came out of nowhere. At 31, with a reputation as a talented but unpredictable footballing nomad, few expected him to end up wearing the famous Blaugrana shirt. Yet there he was, arriving on loan from Sassuolo, stepping into a dressing room dominated by Lionel Messi at the peak of his powers.

What made the transfer even more surreal was Boateng’s lifelong allegiance. He had never hidden the fact that he grew up as a Real Madrid supporter. For him, the Santiago Bernabéu was sacred ground, and Cristiano Ronaldo — five-time Ballon d’Or winner and Madrid’s all-time top scorer — was his footballing idol.

That loyalty, however, quickly became inconvenient.

Barcelona in 2019 was Messi’s kingdom. He was not just the team’s star player; he was the club’s centre of gravity. Everything revolved around him — results, tactics, transfers, and even public narratives. Boateng learned that lesson before he had even pulled on his boots.

Why Boateng was banned from talking about Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Barcelona Real Madrid

Ahead of his unveiling as a Barcelona player, Boateng was given a briefing that left little room for interpretation. Speaking on Unscripted with Josh Mansour, he explained just how blunt the message was.

“I always said I wanted to play for Real Madrid,” Boateng admitted. “Two years before, when I played for Las Palmas, they asked me who my favourite player was and I said Cristiano Ronaldo. I said my favourite team was Real Madrid.”

That honesty came back to haunt him.

“Signing for Barcelona, they said to me: ‘Your favourite team is Barcelona and the best player in the world is Lionel Messi,’” he continued. “They said, ‘You have to, otherwise you can’t play here. It is impossible.’”

There was no room for nuance, no space for personal history. In Barcelona’s world, especially during that era, neutrality did not exist. You were either fully aligned or you were a problem.

So when Boateng sat down for his first press conference and was asked the most predictable question of all — Who is the best player in the world? — he knew exactly what was expected.

“I said Lionel Messi,” he recalled. “I had to lie.”

Messi’s power behind the scenes at Barcelona

Boateng also lifted the lid on just how much influence Messi wielded behind closed doors. His move to Barcelona, he revealed, was not purely a sporting director’s decision. Messi had to approve it.

“He had that power,” Boateng said. “I was going to sleep hoping that Leo likes me or sees me in the team.”

The anxiety was real.

“I was like, tomorrow I can sign my shirt with Barcelona, but if Leo says ‘no,’ I will not be going to sign the contract.”

It is an extraordinary admission, but one that aligns with what many former players have hinted at over the years. Messi was not just a superstar; he was a gatekeeper. His opinion carried enormous weight, and no signing was truly complete without his blessing.

The reality of training with Lionel Messi

While Boateng may have grown up idolising Cristiano Ronaldo, training alongside Messi forced him to confront a difficult truth. Speaking to DAZN in 2020, he described the experience as almost overwhelming.

“Training with Messi left me speechless,” Boateng said. “I had always said that Cristiano Ronaldo was the best in the world, but Messi is something else. He’s not normal.”

The gap, he explained, was humbling.

“While training with him, I felt inadequate for the first time in my career. He was doing incredible things. I felt like saying, ‘I’m done, I’m going to quit playing!’”

It was not about goals or statistics. It was about how effortlessly Messi operated, how the ball seemed magnetically drawn to him, how space opened up wherever he moved. For a seasoned professional like Boateng to feel that small speaks volumes.

The other side of Messi that divided the dressing room

Yet Boateng’s memories of Messi are not entirely reverential. In an appearance on Rio Ferdinand Presents, he painted a picture of a superstar who lived by his own rules — sometimes to the frustration of others.

“So we come in the dressing room, he’s just sitting there on his phone, getting a massage sitting down,” Boateng said. “Two minutes before we go out, he just stands up, closes his boots, and goes out.”

The warm-up routine, or lack of one, was particularly striking.

“For the Champions League game against Liverpool, we did the crossbar challenge and then he goes back inside. The coach made the last adjustment, Messi is on the phone FaceTiming.”

Then came the punchline.

“Thirty seconds before we go out, he just comes and puts his jacket on and BOOM — goal, goal, goal.”

For Messi, it worked. For everyone else, not so much.

Why Messi’s approach hurt younger Barcelona players

Boateng believes Messi’s relaxed approach had unintended consequences, especially for younger players trying to emulate their hero.

“That’s what the young players did in Barcelona,” he explained. “Malcom, Ousmane Dembélé — they looked at him and they didn’t train properly. Then going into the game, they got injured.”

The problem, Boateng insists, was imitation without context.

“He’s the only one in the world that can do that.”

It is a rare critique of Messi — not of his ability, but of the gravitational effect he had on those around him. When the greatest player of his generation operates by different rules, others are tempted to follow, often without the same physical resilience or footballing intuition.

Kevin-Prince Boateng Lionel Messi Barcelona 2019

A short stay at Barcelona, but a lasting story

Boateng’s Barcelona career was brief. He made just four appearances before returning to Italy at the end of the season. On paper, it barely registers. In reality, it became one of the most talked-about chapters of his career.

By the time he retired in 2023, Boateng had played for an extraordinary list of clubs: Tottenham, Portsmouth, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Monza, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hertha Berlin, Schalke, Sassuolo — and Barcelona. Few players embodied the term “journeyman” quite like him, yet few accumulated such a collection of dressing-room stories.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and the impossible choice

Boateng’s confession about having to lie touches on a deeper truth about the Messi–Ronaldo era. For more than a decade, football culture demanded allegiance. Picking one often meant rejecting the other, especially in Spain.

At Barcelona, loving Cristiano Ronaldo or Real Madrid was not just unpopular — it was unacceptable.

Boateng played the game, said what he had to say, and lived the experience most footballers can only dream of. His honesty now, years later, feels refreshingly human.

In the end, his story is not really about lying. It is about survival, identity, and navigating the politics of elite football — where even personal admiration can become a professional risk.

And if nothing else, it proves one thing: playing alongside Lionel Messi at Barcelona came with far more than just footballing expectations.