Argentina's Women's World Cup striker, Yamila Rodriguez, has addressed the controversy surrounding her decision to have a tattoo of Cristiano Ronaldo on her leg, firmly defending her choice of not liking Messi: "I don't hate Messi."

The 25-year-old received backlash from domestic fans on social media after they noticed the prominent adversary of Argentina captain Lionel Messi, Portugal's Ronaldo, had ink on her left shin.

PHOTO | COURTESY

"Please, enough; I'm not doing well. At what point did I say I'm anti-Messi?" Rodriguez wrote on social media in response.

"Messi is our great captain in the national team, but the fact that I say that my inspiration and my idol is CR7 (Ronaldo) does not mean that I hate Messi. Enough, it's tiring and it hurts."


Rodriguez, a substitute in Monday's 1-0 World Cup loss to Italy, has a number of other tattoos, including one of Diego Maradona, the legendary Argentine player.