Lionel Messi opened up about his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo. For nearly two decades, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated world soccer, collecting countless trophies and individual awards along the way. Even now, as both players approach the final stages of their careers, they remain the sport’s biggest stars. The Argentine forward recently reflected on that rivalry.
During an interview on the Lo Del Pollo podcast, Messi was asked whether the constant comparisons with Ronaldo were a media creation or if there was actually bad blood between them. “Those comparisons or competitions are something natural in the world of soccer. It’s normal, just like it happens with clubs or national teams, but it was never anything beyond sports,” Leo began.
“I was at Barcelona and he was at Real Madrid, playing Clasicos, and we were competing for everything both collectively and individually, so people were always comparing us,” the Argentine star added, referring to the 2009-2018 period when both players dominated La Liga.
“What both of us achieved made the rivalry even bigger,” Messi admitted. Indeed, for a decade, he and Cristiano split the most prestigious individual awards in soccer. Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or in 2008, while Leo claimed his first the following year, and from then until 2018, no other player won the award until Luka Modric.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus F.C. is put under pressure by Lionel Messi of Barcelona during the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.
“We didn’t meet often except during matches or award ceremonies, where everyone was always watching to see whether he or I would win. But we were always on good terms,” explained the Inter Miami player. “Now we’re far away and at different stages of our lives, but what happened was a beautiful sporting rivalry.”
When was the last time Messi and Ronaldo faced each other?
To find the last meeting between Messi and Ronaldo, it is necessary to go back to January 2023. At the time, the Portuguese forward had just arrived in Saudi Arabia from Manchester United, and a friendly match was organized between Paris Saint-Germain and the Riyadh Season Team, a squad made up of players from Al Nassr and Al Hilal. PSG won the game 5-4.
However, the last official match between the two stars came much earlier. In the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League group stage, Juventus defeated Barcelona 3-0 thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo brace, just months before Messi was forced to leave the Catalan club for PSG.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup could be the final opportunity
Six and a half years after that last official match between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, their careers have taken very different paths. Playing on different continents, an official meeting between Inter Miami and Al Nassr appears extremely unlikely. Because of that, international soccer may be the only remaining possibility.
Although neither player has confirmed it, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will almost certainly be the final major tournament for Messi and Ronaldo with their respective national teams. There, the possibility of Argentina and Portugal meeting is not entirely unrealistic.
The quickest path for that to happen would be for both teams to finish second in their respective groups — something unlikely given the quality of their opponents — which would set up a potential Round of 16 clash. In a more logical scenario, with Argentina and Portugal winning their groups and advancing through the knockout rounds, they could instead meet in the quarterfinals.