In contemporary football, two of the fiercest opponents are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. For a record-tying fifth time, the Portuguese and Real Madrid great defeated Messi on Thursday night to win the Ballon d’Or as the best player of the year. With his fifth Ballon d’Or victory, Ronaldo and Messi are now tied.
Rоnaldо emerged victоriоus frоm the France Fооtball magazine trоphy ceremоny, which tооk place оn Thursday at the Eiffel Tоwer. He came in first place, ahead оf cоmpetitоrs Messi and Neymar, whо signed a wоrld recоrd-breaking 222 milliоn Eurоs ($262 milliоn) transfer frоm Barcelоna tо Paris Saint-Germain during the оffseasоn.
The 32-year-old forward from Portugal also won the Ballon d’Or award in 2008 while he was a Manchester United player, as well as in 2013 and 2014. Messi took home the trophy twice, in 2009 and 2015.
Nevertheless, it’s surprising to learn that Ronaldo Jr., the top striker for Real Madrid, has made Barcelona’s Messi his idol. At the Paris award presentation, Ronaldo Jr. shook hands with Messi. Later, the young person sent a picture to his Instagram account with the words, “Thank you, Leo Messi, my idol.”
The on-field competition between the two will only intensify in the upcoming years as they vie for the best player title each year by surpassing one another in goals scored and league and championship victories won by their respective teams.
“With Messi the fight cоntinues, in a gооd way,” Rоnaldо said after being presented the trоphy.
Even though the two legendary athletes are not friends, they treat each other with respect when they do meet in person at events like these award ceremonies.
“I don’t know if we will be (friends). Friendship is built through spending time together and getting to know each other. We have no relationship, mainly because we only see each other at awards ceremonies and that’s the only time we speak. Everything is fine, but our lives don’t cross over very often,” Messi was quoted as saying by Marca last month.
