It is one of the world’s biggest footballing battles…but not to the two players on either side of it.
The rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has been played out by fans and stats compilers around the world, but in the words of Ronaldo himself “it does not exist”.
“I don’t have rivals in football,” Ronaldo said at the launch of his eponymous documentary film.
Here is the man himself, alongside director Anthony Wonke and producer Paul Martin pic.twitter.com/SpeamobLpd
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) November 9, 2015
Ronaldo has one notable scene where the player’s son, Cristiano Junior, is starstruck when meeting Messi at the Ballon d’Or gala. But the Real Madrid star explains that the 5-year-old just has an eye for a good player.
“He’s a smart boy, very intelligent, but does not speak only about Messi,” Ronaldo explained to the media.
“He speaks about James, Ramos, Pepe, Coentrao, Neymar…he speaks about everyone because he has good eyes and he knows who is a good player.”