Lionel Messi is to football what ‘superstar’ Ding Junhui is to snooker, says six-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Rocket edged past three-time UK champion Ding 5-4 in the Scottish Open quarter-finals to tee up a last four clash against Li Hang.
Six-time world champion O’Sullivan has now beaten Ding, the world No.10, in 16 of their 24 encounters on the baize since their first meeting at the Masters back in 2005.
Ding is yet to claim a World Championship title and O’Sullivan recently criticised the 14-time ranking event winner for lacking the hunger or desire to claim multiple Crucible crowns.
But the world No.3 reckons his rival strikes the perfect life balance and his snooker CV has parallels with a certain Argentinian.
O’Sullivan, 45, said: “He’s got a great life. He’s got an amazing CV and there are so many snooker players who would love to have the record Ding’s got.
“You’d have thought he’d have had two or three world titles by now – he hasn’t got one, but he’s got three UKs, the Masters, 20-odd ranking events and is the best player to ever come out of China, pound for pound.
“Every top snooker player thinks he’s one of the best players to ever play the game.
“He hasn’t won a world title, but Messi hasn’t won a World Cup. Does that mean Messi’s not probably the best player to ever play the game? No.
“It’s just a tournament, at the end of the day. He’s still a great, great player.
“He enjoys it, China treat him good, he’s got a good relationship with the Chinese people and he’s having fun. He’s not going back there sweating thinking ‘I need to pot this ball to pay my bills’ – he’s playing snooker because he enjoys it.
“Maybe he’s a bit like me – we both haven’t got the hunger you probably need to be No.1 every tournament, but it’s no big deal.
“We’re still fantastic players and we still bring great value to every snooker tournament. He’s still done such great things for snooker in China.
“I think we’re nit-picking here talking about Ding. For me, he’s a superstar.”
O’Sullivan knocked in three-half centuries against 2019 UK champion Ding and while the Chinese teed up a nervy decider, a clutch ninth frame 50 from the Rocket edged him over the line.
He will now meet world No.37 Li Hang in Saturday’s first semi-final as he shoots for a third Scottish Open title in Milton Keynes.
O’Sullivan, who reigned supreme in Aberdeen in 1998 and 2000, has battled through constant struggles with his tip this week and theatrically bit it off the end of his cue after three of his matches.
He slammed his latest equipment in the match against Ding and hopes an emergency replacement can haul him into the final on Sunday.
He added: “How [Ding’s] not beaten me tonight is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Maybe he felt sorry for me.
“He may have been in shock about how bad I was and I dragged him down.
“I’m so pleased to be out of there – I couldn’t stand it and I didn’t want to hit a shot. I couldn’t control it – I’m cueing alright and am playing half-decent, but when you’ve got a sponge on your cue, I can’t play with sponges.
“It was so disgusting and horrible. It was like trying to get through concrete with a fork!”
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