How Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have redrawn the landscape of La Liga

The elite division of Spanish football; the Primera División, popularly known as La Liga, has been the oyster for some of the greatest footballers to ever play the beautiful game.

Diego Maradona, Johan Cryuff, Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, and Mario Kempes are few of the illustrious names that have graced this spectacular league.

For a long time, La Liga was one of the most competitive leagues in the world as, despite the history, power and financial muscle of the El Clasico duo (FC Barcelona and Real Madrid), winning La Liga was a very tough ask, even for the two power weights of Spanish football.

From its inception in 1929 to its latest season (2017/2018), 61 clubs (SD Huesca to become the Number 62 next season) have participated in the top-tier Spanish league. Out of them, 9 clubs have held the distinction of being named Campeones.

However, the introduction of Lionel Messi in the 2004-2005 season of the league, along with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a then world-record fee of £80 million in the 2009-2010 season, has significantly altered the story of La Liga.

These two juggernauts have dominated the landscape of the league since then, and even the heroes heralded previously have had to take a backseat to these two titans.

A time of balance: The ten seasons before the Messi/Ronaldo rivalry

Before the clash of the GOATS took center-stage in La Liga, the title was won by four different teams in the previous ten seasons. Real Madrid won it four times, Barcelona had three championships, Valencia were the winners twice, and Dpeortivo La Coruna gobbled up the one remaining title.

The Pichichi is an award presented to the top goalscorer in the league, which was won by nine different players in the said period of time (only Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o managed to clinch it twice). Players like Racing Santander's Dalva Ballesta, Deportivo La Coruna's Diego Tristan, and even the original Ronaldo; Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, were awarded the same.

The introduction of Messi and Ronaldo completely changed it all, and in the ten seasons they have both been in the league, only Luis Suarez has prevented the eternal duo from scalping the prestigious award. The Uruguayan won it back in 2015/16, in his second season with the Catalan giants.

Before the brilliant duo burst onto the La Liga scene, the record for the highest number of goals ever scored in a single season was 38. This was achieved by the legendary Athletic Bilbao striker, Telmo Zarra, (1952-1953) and Real Madrid's Hugo Sanchez (1989-1990).

Messi and Ronaldo have obliterated this record as well. The 31 goals scored by Ronaldo in the 2013-2014 season is the lowest Pichichi-winning total since 1999-2000. The current record for highest number of goals in a single La Liga season is now held by his Argentine counterpart (50 goals in the 2012-2013 season).

Refik Resmja (59 goals in the Albanian league, 1951), Héctor Horace Scotta (60 in the Argentinian league, 1975) and Pelé (58 in the Brazilian league, 1958) are the only players who have found the back of the net more times than that in a single league season in the history of world football.

In terms of league wins, only Atletico Madrid have broken the El Clasico duopoly, claiming the La Liga title in the 2013-14 season.

Messi, Ronaldo, their clubs, and the rest

The eternal duo have changed the landscape in more ways than one

Factors like the competitive battle between the two virtuosos, their incomparable talent, and the fact that they play for the biggest and more importantly, the richest clubs in La Liga, have contributed to a complete alteration of the league's balance.

This cuts out a huge task before the remaining clubs in the league, making it difficult for them to go toe-to-toe with the El Clasico duo. (Valencia used to be the leaders of this ragtag bunch but Atletico Madrid have taken their position since Diego Simeone took over at as their manager).

Iron sharpeneth iron, and even as they have advanced in years (Messi is now 31 and Ronaldo 33), the duo have not relented as much.

In any other time, era, league or generation, players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Suarez, Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale among others would be principal players and key men for the biggest clubs in the world. However, even these players have not been more than bit-part players in the all-encompassing movies that have had Messi and Ronaldo as their main characters for over a decade now.

European football and the Messi/Ronaldo rivalry

Not even European football has been able to escape from being turned into a playground for these GOAT players.

Before they arrived on the scene, few people thought that the record for the highest goalscorer in the history of the UEFA Champions League would ever be beaten. The record was held by Real Madrid legend; Raul Gonzalez (71).

However, the pair of them has torn the age-old pages of the history books and writheir own glorious storylines therein. Ronaldo is now at the apex as the leading goal scorer in the competition's history with 120 goals, while Messi is a distant second with 100.

Messi and Ronaldo have rewritten the history of the UCL

To put these amazing records into context, the next currently-active player on the list is Karim Benzema, with 56 goals in the competition.

Before the arrival of the Argentine international, FC Barcelona had a single UEFA Champions League title. Now, the Blaugrana have five. Before Ronaldo arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu, Los Merengues had nine UCL trophies. A number that has now increased to 13.

With the rumours around Ronaldo's impending La Liga exit and move to Juventus in the Serie A amplifying every day, his rivalry with Messi will go down in footballing history as era-defining, and probably, the greatest of its kind.