Endrick, a new football star recruited to Real Madrid, quoted Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol. This is also seen with Haaland, Mbappe, Saka, Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Kvara. So many young players today all state Ronaldo as an influence for them. Messi has more accolades than Ronaldo, but the only young players I can think that stated him as an influence is Julian Alvarez and Jude Bellingham. Why do you think most young players respect and admire Ronaldo more than Messi?
Ronaldo is much more expansive, extroverted and likes to be on the media and stating out his value. He also makes an excellent case about talent, endurance, training hard, taking care of your career and taking up challenges. That’s not only a good role model, but much more captivating for a kid looking for an idol. Of course Messi is also all that, but there’s an idea that “Messi just plays and Ronaldo works”, and Messi is much more reclusive