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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are arguably the greatest players ever to have graced the beautiful game.
They have been exemplary performers for club and country in the last one and a half decades. Both have won a multitude of league and Champions League titles and now have a major international title against their respective names too.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo may be on the wrong side of 30, but they have shown no signs of stopping any time soon. With a staggering 11 Ballon d'Or awards between them, the duo have continued to plunder goals and assists galore for club and country.
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Lionel Messi recently racked up four goals and five assists to lead Argentina to the Copa America 2021 title, while the 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, with five goals and an assist, was easily Portugal's best player at Euro 2020.
Although football is a team game, each player has at various times, staked their claim to be called the greatest of all time. Over the years, they have broached this subject and talked about their achievements in comparison with the other.
On that note, let's have a look at ten things Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken about Lionel Messi over the years:
#10 "I've always had a cordial relationship with Messi. I never saw him as a rival" (2020)
In their first meeting in any competition in more than two years, Cristiano Ronaldo's brace helped Juventus win 3-0 at Barcelona's home and also usurp top place in the group from the Blaugrana.
The goals were Cristiano Ronaldo's first in the continental competition against Barcelona as the Blaugrana's record 38-game unbeaten run at home in the Champions League came to an end.
While Ronaldo dazzled on his return to Spain, albeit for one game, Lionel Messi cut a largely isolated and frustrated figure up front. Nevertheless. after the match, Cristiano Ronaldo said he enjoyed a 'cordial' relationship with Messi and never saw the latter as a rival:
"Leo and me shared the last twelve, thirteen or fourteen years of our lives. "I've always had a cordial relationship with him, I never saw him as a rival. It's the press that creates the rivalry. If you ask Leo, he'll tell you the same thing. It's always beautiful to play against him. Obviously people will talk about our rivalry when we meet, but for me it's just a great privilege."
#9 "Lionel Messi makes me a better player and vice versa" (2020)
Two years after leaving Spanish shores for Italy, Cristiano Ronaldo said that his 'rivalry' with Lionel Messi made him a better player.
The duo scored goals galore, albeit for different teams, during their time together in Spain. But Cristiano Ronaldo sought a different challenge after nine prolific years in the country and moved to Italian giants Juventus in the summer of 2018.
In an interaction with TVI in Portugal before the start of the 2020-21 season, Ronaldo said about Lionel Messi:
“I really admire the career he has had and from his side, he has already talked of the disappointment when I left Spain because it was a rivalry that he appreciated. It’s a good rivalry but it’s not unique -- Michael Jordan had rivalries in basketball, there was Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Formula 1."
“I have no doubt that Lionel Messi has made me a better player and vice-versa. When I am winning trophies it must sting him and it’s the same for me when he wins,” he said.
#8 "I would like him to come to Italy" (2018)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored 450 goals and won two league and four Champions League titles during a hugely successful nine-season stint at Real Madrid, where he became the club's all-time top scorer.
After helping Madrid win their third consecutive Champions League title in 2018, the first by any club in the Champions League era, Ronaldo arrived at Juventus on a €100 million transfer. It was a record transfer fee paid by any club for a player aged 30 or above.
The 34-year-old took a few games to acclimatize to his new surroundings before returning to his old goalscoring ways. Ronaldo said he had moved to Italy to seek a 'new' challenge and also urged Lionel Messi to join him in the country:
“I’d like him to come to Italy one day. I hope he accepts the challenge like me, but if he’s happy there then I respect that," said Ronaldo to the Italian press.
When asked if he missed Lionel Messi, Ronaldo added:
“No, maybe it’s him who misses me ...I’ve played in England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and for my national team, while he’s still in Spain. Maybe he needs me more... For me, life is a challenge, I like it and I like to make people happy. He’s a fantastic player and a good guy, but I don’t miss anything here."
#7 "I've won the Champions League with more than one club" (2019)
Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player in the Champions League to win the competition five times. He won the continental competition for the first time with Manchester United in 2008 before repeating the feat with Real Madrid in 2014, 2016-18.
In an interaction with DAZN Canada in 2019, Ronaldo said that he respected the genius of Lionel Messi and his achievements. But what separated the two was the fact that while Lionel Messi has won the Champions League (four times) with Barcelona, he has done so for multiple clubs.
"The difference with me is that I've played for different clubs, and I also won the Champions League with different clubs. I was the top scorer in the Champions League six times in a row,” said Ronaldo.
Ronaldo happens to be the only player to score for two winning clubs in Champions League finals, doing so for Manchester United and Real Madrid.
#6 Only Messi and I could be at the top for ten years (2018)
A few months after his big-money move to Juventus in the summer of 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo, while acknowledging the greatness of Lionel Messi, said that both of them were miles ahead of the rest.
The statement was hardly off the mark. Ronaldo, 33, and Messi, 31, at the time were easily the best players in the game, scoring at least 30 goals a season in their leanest of campaigns. Three years later, they still are.
Going back to the Ronaldo statement in 2018, the Portuguese ace had told France Football regarding the Ballon d'Or nominees for the year:
“How many players are capable of playing at the highest level for more than 10 years? You count them on one hand. There are two, Messi and I.”
Neither player won the Ballon d'Or that year, with Luka Modric breaking Messi and Ronaldo's near decade-long duopoly of the award. A year later, though, Messi won a record-extending sixth Ballon d'Or award.
#5 "It was a beautiful challenge with Messi, but I didn't see it as a rivalry" (2018)
Shortly after his arrival at Juventus on a big-money move, Cristiano Ronaldo told a Portuguese outlet that he had no rivalries with any player, not even Lionel Messi.
The then 33-year-old had said in this regard to O Jogo:
“I don't have rivalries against players, I never have. That's not in my ethics. Juventus will try to win every game and be as regular as possible. It was a beautiful challenge with Messi; they liked it and it was interesting. But I didn't see it as a rivalry."
Less than three years later, Ronaldo became the first to score 100 goals for Juventus in his first three seasons, winning two Serie A titles in this period.
#4 "We are not friends, but I respect him" (2017)
Eight years into his 'rivalry' with Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo had opened up about his 'relationship' with the Argentinian, a favourite topic of discourse for football fans and experts alike.
In an interview with Fox Sports Argentina as quoted by the Mirror, Ronaldo admitted that he was not 'friends' with Messi, but the pair enjoyed a cordial relationship and shared mutual respect with each other.
"In terms of my relationship with Messi," he says, "I'm not his friend, but we are colleagues. We've shared a lot of moments together in premieres over the last 10 years and I have a very good relationship with him. We don’t sit down to eat together, but I respect him. He’s a work colleague, not a rival."
In the same interaction, Ronaldo added that he enjoys watching good footballers like Messi and he 'likes' the Argentine.
"I like to see all the good footballers and he is one of them, it’s a good crack. I really enjoy seeing him play," said Ronaldo. "How would I not like someone who hasn't done anything bad - it's the opposite. When they ask Messi about Cristiano, he also talks positively about me. My relationship with him is cordial, and we have mutual respect for each other."
#3 "You can't compare a Ferrari with a Porsche" - Ronaldo on Messi (2012)
Three years after his arrival at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo announced his pedigree by becoming the first player to score 40 league goals in consecutive La Liga seasons.
In 2010-11, Ronaldo (40) became the first player in the history of the Spanish top fight to breach the 40-goal barrier. The following season, although Messi beat him to the 50-goal mark, Ronaldo scripted another stellar campaign, tallying 46 goals to help Madrid win the La Liga title.
Both players have recorded three 40-goal league seasons apiece, with Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski the only other players to achieve the feat.
Ronaldo said after winning his first league title in Spain that he was 'tired' about the comparisons with Messi, saying:
"Sometimes (the comparisons with Messi) makes me tired ... for him too because they compare us together all the time. You can't compare a Ferrari and a Porsche, because they have different engines."
"It's the first time and I’m very happy, because it's the most important trophy. It will be hard to match a year as good as this, because the Spanish league is the toughest in the world and competing with Barcelona, as we all know, is very difficult.
#2 "This game we play is about the team, not individuals" (2009)
Ronaldo won his Champions League trophy and bagged the 2008 World Player of the Year Award after a marvelous 42-goal season.
A year later, on the eve of Manchester United's Champions League final against Barcelona, which the Blaugrana won 2-0, Ronaldo said the final was not about him or Messi.
"This game we play is about the team, not individuals. This final is not about me and Messi," said Ronaldo. "It is between Manchester United and Barcelona. Both are winners of their national titles, and I predict that it will be a spectacular duel."
The game, though, saw Messi score a rare headed goal as Manchester United failed in their bid to become the first team in the Champions League era to successfully defend their title.
#1 "I don't care if Messi wins the Ballon d'Or" (2015)
At the peak of their 'rivalry' in 2015, after Lionel Messi had inspired Barcelona to a second continental treble in six years, Cristiano Ronaldo said that he 'couldn't care less' about his counterpart winning the Ballon d'Or award.
Ronaldo had told Kicker Magazine (as quoted by FotMob) in this regard:
"I don't care if Messi wins the Ballon d'Or. I know that it is not in my hands whether I win this award or not. It all depends on others. I have always remained the same over the past eight years of my career. I have always played at a very high level. Name me one other player in the history of the game who has done the same."
Ronaldo observed that he was the best in the business, an attitude that has reaped him rich dividends.
"But I think I am the best. Everybody should ask himself why you would not want to be the best at what you do. I think this attitude is one of the reasons why I have improved so much throughout my career and why I have achieved so much.
Messi's Ballon d'Or win that year interrupted Ronaldo's streak of consecutive wins. But the Portuguese would bounce back to win the next two Ballon d'Or awards.
