Max Verstappen is arguably the biggest athlete in The Netherlands at the moment. He has brought a lot of glory, especially in the last three years. Now, Dutch soccer hero Ronald Koeman compares Verstappen to Lionel Messi, one of the greatest athletes of all time.
Koeman is one of the most decorated defenders in soccer history and is the current head coach of the Dutch national soccer team. Between 2020 and 2021, he was in charge of FC Barcelona of Spain and worked closely with Messi.
LIONEL MESSI WINS BALLON D’OR NUMBER EIGHT 🐐 pic.twitter.com/wRzWxwTgmm
— GOAL (@goal) October 30, 2023
Taking his experience of coaching Messi into account, Koeman finds similarities between the Argentine and Verstappen. In an interview with Formule 1, he says:
“The will to win at all costs. Can be hard, sit on top if something is not arranged. You can see that in Max, in his behavior, in his eyes, from the poison in his eyes. He decides, for example, when he enters a race for new tires. He doesn’t ask, he reports it. He takes responsibility. Messi has that too, which I experienced at Barcelona for a year and a half.”
2023 Formula 1 World Champion!!!
Celebrating the #ThirdStar ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #F1 #MaxVerstappen #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/E6TgROUzL2— Max Verstappen (@VerstappenCOM) October 7, 2023
Both Verstappen and Messi are legends in the sporting world. However, what prompted Koeman to make this comparison was his recent interest in the world of F1. The reason behind this interest? Verstappen’s dominance.
Ronald Koeman fascinated by Max Verstappen dominating F1
F1 as a sport has grown a lot over the last five years. Still, some people feel that Verstappen’s dominance since 2021 has made the sport boring. However, Koeman for one, got into F1 because Verstappen kept winning.
In particular, Verstappen’s rivalry with Lewis Hamilton was what piqued his interest. “He has brought sport to life in the Netherlands, so now I have much more with sport due to Max’s success,” Koeman said.
Earlier this year, Verstappen sealed his third consecutive drivers’ title. In process, he has won 17 races, breaking his own record of 15 set just a year ago. There are two more races to go until the season ends and Verstappen will be looking to make the Dutch people more proud by adding two more wins to the column.
