Lionel Messi believes his ‘special’ La Liga duel with Cristiano Ronaldo will ‘remain forever’ in people’s minds despite his rival’s switch to the Serie A.
With Messi at the helm of Barcelona and Ronaldo spearheading Real Madrid from 2009 till 2018, the 2 attacking superstars dominated world soccer to win nearly one in all the last twelve Ballon d’Or awards – with solely Luka Modric managing to interrupt the duopoly in 2018.
Messi feels the longevity and intensity of his contention with Ronaldo was a highlight which fans won’t forget the duel although Ronaldo is plying his trade for Italian giants Juventus.
“It was a special duel and it’ll stay forever, as a result of it lasted a few years and it’s rough to take care of bound levels for a long time, and the teams we played in were conjointly very demanding , each Real Madrid and Barça, the 2 best within the world,” Messi told La Liga on DAZN.
“Competing on an equal footing for so many years, i feel it’ll stay forever. The sporting duel between us was very nice on a private level and that i suppose individuals made merry too, whether or not it absolutely was from Madrid or from Barça, or perhaps solely soccer fans generally.”
Despite a four-year drought, Messi won his sixth Ballon d’Or in 2019 to go one ahead of Ronaldo – who has claimed the celebrated honour on 5 occasions.
During Ronaldo’s time within the Madrid, Messi scored 472 goals in 476 appearances across all competitions, whereas his Real Madrid foe hit 450 goals in 438 matches.
Messi remembered the days he took on Ronaldo lovingly and aforesaid Barcelona’s El Clasico matches against Real Madrid were a lot of necessary once the Portugal international was taking part in in them.
“Obviously when Cristiano was at Real Madrid the matches were invariably special,” Messi aforesaid.
“Against Real they’re invariably particular matches for the meaning, however once Cristiano was there they became rather more special.
“But they’re stages that have currently passed, that we’ve experienced , however currently look ahead and see what we’ve now.”
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