Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Lionel Messi (right)
Cristiano Ronaldo once spoke about his rivalry against Lionel Messi ahead of an El Clasico. The former Real Madrid superstar played down his competition against Messi, insisting that he was facing the team as a whole.
Ronaldo and Messi are two of the greatest players of their generation and are considered the best of all time. The pair have been pitted against each other in the never-ending GOAT debate.
Their rivalry began after Ronaldo's rise to stardom at Manchester United and Messi's arrival at Barcelona. However, it elevated to another level after Ronaldo's high-profile transfer to Real Madrid in 2009 at a then-world record fee of £80 million.
In 2014, when their rivalry was at its peak, Madrid were set to play Barcelona in their first encounter of the La Liga campaign on October 25. Ahead of the fixture, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi took the spotlight.
