Lionel Messi has cleared the air on his relationship with arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, MySportDab reports.
The two players have dominated the conversation in modern football, and rightly so with their plethora of individual honours and club trophies.
Currently plying their trade off the shores of Europe, it is fair to say that their era of dominance is gradually fading out.
However, their legacies in the sports – from game-changing performances to multiple triumphs – has been etched in gold in the annals of football history.
Meanwhile, while the buzz has been about who is a better football between the two players, the conversation seldom shift to their relationship with each as the dominant duo in the sport, miles above their contemporaries.
Speaking after Inter Miami’s FIFA Club World Cup victory over Porto, Lionel Messi cleared the air on this particular aspect of his relationship with the arch-rival.
According to him, he has immense respect for the Portuguese but aren’t friends since they don’t spend time together.
Messi also recognized his rivalry with Ronaldo, stating they were rivals on the field, but ordinary men off it with respect to each other.
Below is excerpt of his statements;
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo, and for the career he’s had and continues to have. He is still competing at the highest level”.
“The competition with him was on the pitch… Each of us wanted to do the best for our team. Everything stayed on the pitch”.
“Off the pitch, we are two normal guys. We’re not friends because we don’t spend time together, but we’ve always treated each other with a lot of respect”.
Ronaldo and Messi have 13 Ballon d’Or honours between them with Ronaldo winning five and Messi eight.
Their rivalry peaked when they both played in La Liga for two of the biggest clubs in the Spanish top flight – Real Madrid and Barcelona.
And their career haven’t been the same since they left the Spanish top flight. However, they have continued playing at elite-level for their respective clubs – Al-Nassr for Ronaldo and Inter Miami for Messi – as they near the twilight of their careers.
