Ronaldo v. Messi

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LIONEL MESSI The Beginnings
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Lionel Andrés Messi was born on 24th of June 1987 in Rosario, the third of four children of Jorge Messi,
a steel factory manager, and his wife Celia Cuccittini, who worked in a magnet manufacturing
workshop. Growing up in a tight-knit, football-loving family, "Leo" developed a passion for the sport
from an early age, playing constantly with his older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and his cousins,
Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi, both of whom became professional footballers.
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CRISTIANO RONALDO The Beginnings
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Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5th of February 1985 in São Pedro, Funchal and grew up in
the Funchal parish of Santo António, as the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José
Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener and a part-time kit man. His second given name, "Ronaldo", was chosen
after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, whom his father admired. By age 14, Ronaldo believed he had the
ability to play semi-pro, and agreed with his mother to cease his education in order to focus entirely on football.
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LIONEL MESSI
The Legend
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"I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine
soccer and his name is Messi. Messi is a genius." – Diego Maradona
"It is clear that Messi is on a level above all others. Those who do
not see that are blind." – Xavi
"Don't write about him, don't try to describe him.
Just watch him." – Pep Guardiola
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Messi
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In April of 2017, Leo Messi reached another spectacular landmark after scoring his
500th official FC Barcelona goal against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
The Argentine has broken numerous records in his time with the club, but his latest
feat will likely be the hardest for any other player to conquer.
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CRISTIANO RONALDO
The Legend
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“When you play with Ronaldo on your team, you are
already 1-0 up.” – Zinedine Zidane
“He (Ronaldo) does things I have never seen from any other player
and it really is marvellous to watch. It takes a great player to grab
the bull by the horns and make things happen, but he has done it
repeatedly.” – Sir Bobby Charlton
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Ronaldo
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Other trophies Cristiano Ronaldo won outside Real Madrid CF:
[With Sporting CP] Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2002
[With Manchester United F.C.] Premier League: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
FA Cup: 2003–04; Football League Cup: 2005–06, 2008–09
FA Community Shield: 2007; UEFA Champions League: 2007–08
FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
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LIONEL MESSI First season and his first goal
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CRISTIANO RONALDO First season and his first goal
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2009/10
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2009/10
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2010/11
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2010/11
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2011/12
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2011/12
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2012/13
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2012/13
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2013/14
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2013/14
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LIONEL MESSI Argentina National Team
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Portugal National Team
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2014/15
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2014/15
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2015/16
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2015/16
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LIONEL MESSI Season 2016/17
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Season 2016/17
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LIONEL MESSI Trophies
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Only player to score consecutively against all opposition teams in
La Liga: 19 matches, 30 goals in 2012–13, youngest player to score
200 goals in La Liga, and first player to reach 300 La Liga goals.
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La Liga: 2004–05, 2005–06,
2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11,
2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16
Copa del Rey: 2008–09,
2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16
Supercopa de España:
2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011,
2013, 2016
UEFA Champions League:
2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11,
2014–15
UEFA Super Cup: 2009,
2011, 2015
FIFA Club World Cup:
2009, 2011, 2015
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Messi won the most (FIFA) Ballons d'Or, a total of five (2009–12, 2015),
and he also has the most consecutive Ballons d'Or - four.
He is the youngest two-time and three-time Ballon d'Or winner, when he was
23 and 24 years old.
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CRISTIANO RONALDO Trophies
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Only player in the world who has scored in 7 consecutive
major international tournaments: the 2004, 2008, 2012
and 2016 editions of the European Championship;
and the 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions of the World Cup.
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La Liga: 2011–12, 2016–17
Copa del Rey: 2010–11,
2013–14
Supercopa de España:
2012, 2017
UEFA Champions League:
2013–14, 2015–16,
2016–17
UEFA Super Cup: 2014,
2016, 2017
FIFA Club World Cup:
2014, 2016
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Other trophies Cristiano Ronaldo won outside Real Madrid CF:
[With Sporting CP] Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2002
[With Manchester United F.C.] Premier League: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
FA Cup: 2003–04; Football League Cup: 2005–06, 2008–09
FA Community Shield: 2007; UEFA Champions League: 2007–08
FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
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MESSI–RONALDO RIVALRY
The Messi–Ronaldo rivalry is a supposed association football rivalry between Argentine
forward Lionel Messi and Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Having won a combined
nine FIFA Ballon d'Or awards (record 5 for Messi and 4 for Ronaldo), both are widely
regarded as the two best players of their generation and often as one of the best of all time
in the sport. Both players have regularly broken the 50 goal barrier in a single season, and
have scored over 500 goals each in their careers for club and country. They are also the only
two players to score seven UEFA Champions League hat-tricks. Sports journalists and pundits
regularly argue the individual merits of both players in an attempt to establish who they
believe is the best player in modern football. It has been compared to past global sports
rivalries such as the Muhammad Ali–Joe Frazier rivalry in boxing, the Björn Borg–John
McEnroe rivalry in tennis and the Ayrton Senna–Alain Prost rivalry in Formula One motor
racing.
In a 2012 interview, Ronaldo commented on the rivalry by saying: "I think we push each other
sometimes in the competition, this is why the competition is so high", while Ronaldo's manager
during his time at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, opined that "I don't think the rivalry
against each other bothers them. I think they have their own personal pride in terms of
wanting to be the best". Messi has denied any rivalry, saying that it was "only the media, the
press, who wants us to be at loggerheads but I've never fought with Cristiano". In response to
claims that he and Messi do not get on well on a personal level, Ronaldo commented: "We
don't have a relationship outside the world of football, just as we don't with a lot of other
players", before adding that in years to come he hopes they can laugh about it together,
stating: "We have to look on this rivalry with a positive spirit, because it's a good thing".
Some commentators choose to analyse the differing physiques and playing styles of the two,
while part of the debate revolves around the contrasting personalities of the two players:
Ronaldo is sometimes depicted as an arrogant and theatrical showoff, while Messi is
portrayed as a shy, humble character. When asked which he preferred, then FIFA president
Sepp Blatter commented that Messi will "always get a lot of votes because he plays well and
scores goals" before saying that Ronaldo "is like a commander on the field of play. This is the
other side of football and it's good to have commanders on the field. They donʼt have the
same attitude and that gives life to football. One has more expenses for the hairdresser than
the other but that doesn't matter. I can't say who is the best. I like both of them, but I prefer
Messi".
At club level, with Messi and Ronaldo representing rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two
players face each other at least twice every season in the world's most popular regular-season
club game, El Clásico, which had a global audience of 400 million viewers in March 2014.
Off the field, they are the face of two rival sportswear manufacturers, Messi of Adidas and
Ronaldo of Nike, which are also the respective kit suppliers of their national teams and the
opposite for their clubs. The two highest paid players in football, Ronaldo and Messi are
among the world's best paid sports stars: in combined income from salaries, bonuses and
off-field earnings in 2016, Ronaldo was first earning $88 million and Messi was second with
$81.4 million. They have the two biggest social media followings in the world among
sportspeople with a combined 200+ million Facebook fans.
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ORIGINS OF RIVALRY
In 2007, Ronaldo and Messi finished as runners-up to A.C. Milan's Kaká in both the Ballon
d'Or, an award rewarded to the player voted as the best in the world by an international
panel of sports journalists, and the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year, an award voted for
by coaches and captains of international teams. In an interview that year, Messi was quoted
as saying "Cristiano Ronaldo is an extraordinary player and it would be brilliant to be in the
same team as him".
They first played in a game together when United were drawn to play Barcelona in the
2007–08 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, and were immediately pitted as major rivals.
Ronaldo missed a penalty in the first leg, but United eventually advanced to the final via a Paul
Scholes goal. At the end of the year, Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d'Or and vowed that
he would win the award again.
The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final was contested between United and Barcelona on 27
May 2009 at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. The match, described as a "dream clash", was
again hyped as the latest battle between the two, this time to settle who was the best player
in the world; Ronaldo claimed he was the better of the two, while Messi's club-mate Xavi sided
with him. United manager Alex Ferguson was more diplomatic, praising both players as being
amongst the world's elite talents. Messi, playing in a central role he was unaccustomed to so
he would avoid a direct battle with United left-back Patrice Evra, scored Barcelona's second
in a 2–0 victory with a header in the 70th minute. Meanwehile, Ronaldo was subdued for
much of the game despite some early chances to score, and his frustration eventually showed
when he was booked for a rash tackle on Carles Puyol.
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El Clásico
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El Clásico ("The Classic") is the name given in football to any match between fierce rivals
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Originally it referred only to those competitions held in the
Spanish championship, but nowadays the term has been generalized, and tends to include
every single match between the two clubs: UEFA Champions League, Copa del Rey, etc.
Other than the UEFA Champions League Final, it is considered one of the biggest club
football games in the world, and is among the most viewed annual sporting events.
The match is known for its intensity.
The rivalry comes about as Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and
they are sometimes identified with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid viewed as
representing Spanish nationalism and Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan
nationalism. The rivalry is regarded as one of the biggest in world sport, as the two clubs
are among the richest and most successful football clubs in the world.
In recent years, the rivalry has been "encapsulated" by the rivalry between Cristiano
Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
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THE MOST AMAZING FANS
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Ole-le, Ola-la, ser del Barça és el millor que hi ha!
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"I'm always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself,
for the fans, and to try and win."
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THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN
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¡Hala Madrid Y Nada Más!
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"What I do as an individual player is only important if it
helps the team to win. That is the most important thing."
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Legends on...
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...and off the field.
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Panini Club BiH
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