Christian, to Arabia; Messi, world champion: the story of a finished duel

For more than ten years Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have marked a duel for history. The Portuguese and the Argentine have fought on the green to be the best player each season and one of the best in history. A duel that during the last period has divided the soccer fan between having to choose one or the other. This comes to an end with the departure of Cristiano to Arabia and closes a cycle never seen before in football. Two of the best players in history, each one will choose which one they like the most, they have coincided in time and have delighted the fans.

Lionel Messi defeats Cristiano Ronaldo in the final ‘sprint’

The first confrontation between the two came at the Camp Nou on April 23, 2008 in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, with the Portuguese still at Manchester United. The duel ended goalless and with a missed penalty from Cristiano included. That tie would end up falling to the United side, which in the end served for the Portuguese to lift his first Champions League. The last confrontation was also in the highest European competition and also in the Barcelona fiefdom. Cristiano’s Juve managed to prevail 3-0 to achieve first place in the group in the last match with a double for the Portuguese. On December 8, 2020, without an audience due to COVID, it was the last time the faces were seen on green.

During those twelve years, there have been a total of 36 matches between them, including two friendlies between their teams. Most of those duels, 30, have been wearing the Barça and Real Madrid shirts. A rivalry between two players that crossed borders and each game was followed by millions of fans around the world. The Spanish football Clásico also became a Cristiano-Messi Clásico. The fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid have been the ones who have enjoyed and suffered the most from the duel between these two already legendary players. They have met the Portuguese once at Juve and three times when he was wearing the United shirt.

Messi vs. Cristiano: the last dance?

In these 36 clashes, 11 have fallen to Cristiano’s side, 9 times they have ended in a draw and on 16 occasions Messi has emerged victorious. The Portuguese striker has managed to see the goal on 21 occasions and the Argentine on 22. Messi has distributed 12 assists during these games for just one from the Portuguese. Numbers to remember a legendary duel. Both players have fed each weekend and that competition to be the best has meant that both have had to improve each year, managing to break almost all soccer records.

Within all those confrontations, it is worth highlighting the Champions League final that they played in 2009 between Barça and United, which ended up taking the culé team with a goal from Messi included. The 2011 Copa del Rey final that Real Madrid won with a goal from Cristiano began to show that he could end Guardiola’s dominance of Barça. The league matches that have already left for the history of the competition the famous ‘calm’ of Cristiano at the Camp Nou to close the League of Mourinho’s records or the image of Messi showing the shirt to the public at the Bernabéu, despite the fact that that victory in the end did not help Barça to win the League, since Zidane’s Madrid ended up taking it. Each fan will keep his particular moment.

In the competition that they have met the most times they have been in LaLiga with a total of 18 games. In the Champions League they have met six times, in the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup five times and twice with the national team. Cristiano’s departure from Madrid and some injuries involved have prevented more matches between the two from being seen.

Both players have shared collective and individual titles. With the departure of Cristiano to Arabia at the age of 38, he puts an end to a duel that will remain forever in the retina and in the memory of the fans. A duel for history that will be remembered for decades as until now was done with Maradona, Pelé or Di Stefano. It seemed that the end of this story would never come, but it seems very unlikely that both footballers could see each other again in an official match, but they could see each other in a friendly match at the end of January in a match between PSG and Cristiano’s new team. An era ended.

Messi, world champion

The world championship achieved by Messi, and as the main figure, in Qatar 2022 with the Argentine team is one of the compelling reasons for those who believe that number 10 has already won Cristiano’s historic fight.

The FIFA World Cup was the title “missing” Messi, according to detractors, to beat the Portuguese number 7 in the duel of who has been the best footballer of recent times. (D)