Friends in real life, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are compared to each other- let it be their playing style or for their records.
Euro Cup 2016 has been a complete roller-coaster ride. After a long hard-fought tournament, to everyone’s surprise, Portugal has made it to the finals. They will go head-to- head with France on Sunday night. The odds are definitely in favour of France with the home-ground advantage. But, Ronaldo’s side, with some right combination of movements, at the right time, in the penalty box, just might ‘steal’ the show.
In sports, there have been some rivalries which have defined generations after generations. Be it between F-1 racers Nikki Lauda and James Hunt, or between the boxing legend Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier, or Pete Sampras against Andre Agassi in tennis or India vs Pakistan in cricket; these rivalries have produced some of the best ‘moments’ in the history of world sports. When it comes to football, there, without a doubt, has been no greater rivalry than the on-going one between Portugal’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinian star Lionel Messi. Ronaldo, with a Euro Cup victory just might clinch a big one up on Messi.
Lionel Messi, who is going through some tough times post his defeat in the Copa America 2016 final, with him announcing retirement from the international squad and then been given a 21- month sentence in a tax fraud case, just might have another ‘kick-in- the-gut’ if Ronaldo takes his country to a major international tournament victory.
The faithful football fans might argue that Messi and Ronaldo, have on papers, have always maintained their ‘camaraderie’ and supported each other’s success. But still, if Ronaldo is able to win a major international tournament before Messi, he would go down in the history books for being the first one to do so among the two. This would also mean that if Messi does not make a comeback to international circuit, it is a feat he would have never achieved in his career.
READ: Cristiano Ronaldo has the opportunity to leave Lionel Messi in the shade in Euro 2016 final
One point to note is that out of the two of them, Messi is the one to have appeared in more international tournament finals. Argentina has lost four consecutive finals with him starting a game: Copa America 2007 final against Brazil by 3-0, World Cup 2014 against Germany by 1-0, Copa America 2015 with (0-0) 3-1 on penalties and Copa America 2016 with (0-0) 4-2 on penalties. Ronaldo, on the other hand has just appeared in two. He last played a final in international arena against Greece in 2004 Euro, when he was just 19 years old. If he is able to win it for Portugal this time around, he would do so much earlier than Messi, and with much less opportunities at hand to do so.
There is yet another thing to lose for Messi if Portugal wins- the prestigious Ballon d’Or award. Football analysts all around the world have called 2015-2016 as Ronaldo’s ‘worst season’. But the fact remains he scored 50 goals last season, won UEFA champion’s league and now is in the Euro Cup finals. If Ronaldo wins the international trophy for Portugal, he would definitely stamp himself as the primary contender for being awarded the Ballon d’Or trophy. The five-time winner of the trophy, Lionel Messi would need to do something remarkably significant in the coming season to compete with that.
Majority of Argentina football fans all around the world might be rooting for France in the Euro finals. But the only good thing that can come out of Portugal’s victory for them is that seeing Ronaldo lifting the international trophy over his head might just trigger Messi to end his retirement and give international circuit another shot.
