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An image of the last clash between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, on January 19, 2023 in Saudi Arabia, in the friendly that pitted PSG against Ryad Season, a team of stars from the Saudi league ()
Soccer fans will be left wanting to see Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the field, the two soccer stars who remain in force and continue to break world records. The all-star duel was scheduled for this Thursday, February 1, in the friendly between Inter Miami and Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, but the Portuguese suffered an injury to the calf of his left leg that will leave him out of the event that will take place in the Kingdom Stadium in Riyadh.
Although the “last dance” between Messi and Ronaldo will not take place, both have had several encounters on the field during their careers and the freshest precedent occurred on January 19, 2023, in a friendly in which PSG defeated 5- 4 to Riyad Season, a combination of Saudi league stars led by Marcelo Gallardo. In that match that served to promote Arab football, the man from Rosario scored one of the French team’s goals, while the one born in Madeira scored a double.
In total, the Argentine star and the Portuguese star met 37 times with their respective teams. The first match was on April 23, 2008, in a 0-0 draw between Barcelona and Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League. Since then, their individual rivalry has even eclipsed the Spanish classic between Real Madrid and Barça. The last match on European soil was on December 8, 2020, when Juventus visited the Camp Nou and won 2-0 with two goals from CR7. The history between the two shows an advantage in favor of Messi of 17 wins, against 11 wins for Cristiano Ronaldo and 9 draws. In terms of goals scored in the crosses, La Pulga and el Bicho are tied with 23 goals each.
One of the great disputes between the historical scorers of the Argentine and Portuguese national teams is focused on the race for who will be the top scorer on the planet. Messi, 36 years old and with a current contract with Inter Miami, runs from behind with a total of 821 total goals, while Ronaldo (38) leads the table with 873 and was also the player who celebrated a goal the most times in the 2023 season with 53 screams. However, the world champion has a record that seems impossible to match with 91 goals scored in 69 games in the 2012 season, in which he wore the shirts of Barcelona and the National Team.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo faced each other several times in the Spanish classics between Barcelona and Real Madrid
Another of the items that are weighed to compare world figures are individual recognitions, starting with the Ballon d’Or galas and The Best awards, ceremonies where both have shared the stage and even some exchanges in front of the cameras. Messi surpasses Ronaldo in the awards given by the prestigious France Football magazine to recognize the best footballers in the world with 8 trophies against 5 for the Portuguese, while in the awards sponsored by FIFA, Leo is at the forefront with 3 recognitions, one more what a Christian.
Regarding the relationship between both footballers, the two agreed that they are not friends, but that they maintain mutual respect and that they understand that the rivalry is created by the media or fans. During the draw for the group stage of the Champions League in 2019, Messi (Barcelona player) and Cristiano (Juventus) sat next to each other in the same row and talked about this topic. “It was a nice rivalry, because he was also in Madrid. And well, now he is on a great team too, and we see it from Spain,” said the man from Rosario, laughing, when asked by the presenter of the event.
The Portuguese then took the floor and responded with an unusual proposal: “We shared the stage for 15 years. I don’t know if it has ever happened in the history of football, the same two players on the same stage all the time. It’s not easy, but of course we have a good relationship. Although we have not had dinner together I still hope we can do so in the future.” So far, the meeting has not taken place.
In one of his interviews with L’Equipe for the Ballon d’Or gala, Messi was asked about the comparisons with Ronaldo and what he feels about it. “With Cristiano we had one of the most beautiful sporting battles, we mutually fed each other, I think we are both very competitive and he also always wanted to win at everything and everything. It was a very nice time for everyone and for the public in general. I think there is a lot of merit in what we did for so long because as they say ‘the difficult thing is not getting there but staying’ and we stayed at the top for 10 or 15 years,” he said.
During the 2019 Champions League draw, the football stars met and said a few words-
In September 2023, it was Ronaldo who referred to Messi at a press conference in Portugal prior to the start of the Euro Cup Qualifiers. “Hate? I don’t see things like that, the rivalry is over. It was good, the viewers liked it. Whoever loves Cristiano Ronaldo does not have to hate Messi. We are both very good, we changed the history of football. We are respected all over the world, that is the most important thing. He makes his way, I make mine. He’s done well, from what I’ve seen. Continue, the legacy continues. I don’t see rivalry that way. I already said it, we shared the stage for 15 years and we ended up being, I’m not saying friends, but professional colleagues and we respect each other,” he clarified.
In any case, Cristiano was in charge of marking distance with Lionel by sometimes throwing some darts against the Argentine captain by lowering the price of the leagues that the Rosario player has been through, such as the French and the American ones. “To be honest, I don’t think this Saudi league is worse than the French league. In my opinion, Ligue 1 has two or three teams of good level and in Saudi Arabia, no. I think it’s more competitive. They can say what they want, that’s my opinion. I’ve been playing there since last year so I know what I’m talking about. I think that at the moment we are better than the French league and we will continue to improve,” Ronaldo said in an interview during the Globe Soccer awards ceremony. On another occasion, the Portuguese answered that he would not like to play with Messi in the MLS because “in Arabia the championship is better than the one in the United States.”
The truth is that the public in the stadiums usually demonstrate for or against one of the figures. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo is usually harassed in the stands of the opposing team and when he goes out onto the field the fans shout “Messi” at him to make him angry or remind him that the Argentine has already been world champion, something that the Portuguese has not done. achieved, beyond a Euro Cup with the Portuguese. The rivalry will endure, debates will continue to determine who is the GOAT (the best of all time), but no one will be able to deny the greatness of these two stars of world football.
