Like day turns into night and night turns into day, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are intrinsically linked in the minds of football lovers all over the world.
See Saw
Disciples of the of divine-like Messi say their man has been touched by genius while fan boys of CR7 laud their hero for being a relentless machine in pursuit of perfection. It is a never-ending saga, as these two engage in a battle of supremacy that has crystallised into a game of footballing see-saw. One goes up and the other goes down, then the other goes up and the other one comes down. This has been the repeated pattern of their symbiotic rivalry.
Tit for Tat
Their form may dip on occasions but their class is permanent. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people seem obsessed with trying to work out who is better rather than enjoying the spectacle of these two going toe to toe. Messi is the best because he’s won the Balon d’Or four times. Ronaldo is the best because he’s won everything in both England and Spain. Messi breaks the La Liga record for hat-tricks one week Ronaldo scores five goals in the next. It goes on and on.
World Cup
Not even international football can decipher whose qualities shine brightest. While Messi occasionally glimmered on his way to the World Cup final with an Argentina team full of world class performers like Mascherano, Di Maria and Aguero, Ronaldo has to play with the likes of Nani. It’s not a level playing field for the Portuguese star even though his five-star performance in the World Cup play-off against Sweden was one of the best I’ve ever seen. In that game, Cristiano scored a hat-trick in a 3-2 win and made Zlatan look like a poor man's Olivier Giroud.
Level Playing Field
This year’s Champions League is probably the best barometer of the two’s comparative influence in football games of the highest quality. Ronaldo and Messi are the joint record goal scorers in the competition (with 75 goals apiece) and both carry the burden of expectation for their respective clubs. While Ronaldo attempts to lead Madrid to an unprecedented 11th title and become the first team to retain the trophy in its modern format, Messi will be aiming to take a remodelled Barcelona back to the pinnacle of European football after the club endured a rocky period of transition.
CR7
This season, both players have experienced blips at different times of the campaign. While Ronaldo and his fellow Merengues started the season like a runaway train blowing teams away and scoring goals for fun, they hit their own rocky patch in the New Year from which they’ve still not fully recovered. Even so, CR7 has eight goals in seven UCL games and will be looking to put noisy neighbours Atletico to the sword in the second leg of their quarter final tie next week.
La Pulga Atomico
Meanwhile, Messi came back from a relatively good but ultimately disappointing World Cup and had to adapt to a new manager at his club, in the shape of Luis Enrique. All did not seem to be going well initially and, at the lowest point, there were even rumours that Messi could leave Barcelona in the near future. This power struggle was resolved while the summer additions of Mathieu, Rakitic and Suarez have now been fully integrated into the Barca system.
Those early season troubles seem a long way away now as Messi has seemingly found a new lease of life. La Pulga Atomico has eight goals in six UCL games, two of which came against tonight’s opponents PSG. The two teams have met twice already in this year’s competition group stage with both sides winning their respective home games. Needless to say Messi scored in each encounter and will be looking to edge ahead of Ronaldo in the European goal stakes tonight.
Old Big Ears
So, if you must judge who the better player is between Messi and Ronaldo it seems to me that performances in this year’s Champions League will offer some empirical evidence to back up your opinion. Ultimately it depends on who can drive their team onto glory and which one of these brilliant players lift the trophy affectionately known as ‘Old Big Ears’.
