Cristiano Ronaldo dismisses Barcelona legend Xavi because he “never won a Ballon d’Or”

Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Real Madrid was a triumphant one.

Five minutes after his comeback from a knee injury, the Portuguese captain found the net and got the ball rolling on a 5-2 victory for the Spanish giants. And after getting his first game back under his belt, Ronaldo was keen on having his say on some comments from Barcelona legend Xavi earlier this week.

"Ronaldo is a player of his time," Xavi recently told Cadena SER. "The problem is that there is another who has been pretty much the best player in history.

"Ronaldo is extraordinary but compared to Messi, for me and for everyone who likes football, there are no comparisons."

One would expect such Messi favouritism from a former teammate but Ronaldo wasn't about to sit idly by and have his acknowledgements belittled and, after Saturday's win over Osasuna, he hit back at the Spanish midfielder.

"The most searched for player on the Internet is me," Ronaldo told reporters, as quoted in the Daily Mail. "Those that want to appear on front covers [of newspapers] or promote things speak about me.