Just imaginary? How Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s rivalry has unfolded over the years

Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed the headlines at last night’s El Clasico, the first of the season, in the Spanish Super Cup.

The Portuguese superstar came on in the second half for Real Madrid, scored a stunning goal before getting booked for removing his shirt. Another booking followed couple of minutes later, as Ronaldo was adjudged to have dived and received his marching orders via a second yellow card for simulation.

His arch-nemesis, Lionel Messi, had netted a penalty earlier, bringing Barcelona level but could not manage to save Barcelona from sinking to a 1-3 defeat at home.

The talking point though became Ronaldo’s celebration after having scored, the shirt celebration which seemed similar to Messi’s in the last El Classico, where the Argentine scored in the dying minutes of the game to give the Catalans the win.

The rivalry, although appearing to be publicly friendly, has had its flashpoints throughout the years as these giants of the modern game have battled it out on and sometimes off the pitch.

The Start

Ronaldo, the older of the two, obviously had a head-start in the rivalry, and was already making a name for himself at Manchester United as Messi looked to break into Frank Rijkaard’s team.

Of course, it was known at an early age that the diminutive Argentine was special but the full extent of his greatness was yet to be realised as Sir Alex Ferguson went about polishing Ronaldo, the uncut diamond, into a full-blown gem.

A young Messi in his first full-season in 2007-’08 speaks about Ronaldo and Kaka as two players to look out for in the Ballon D’Or race. Both would join Real in the summer of 2009 but Messi and Ronaldo would meet before that as Manchester United overcame Barcelona 1-0 over two legs in the 2008 Champions League semifinals.

Barcelona would have their revenge a year later, as they beat United 2-0 in the 2009 final to clinch Messi’s first European title.

By this time, Ronaldo and Messi had a Ballon D’Or apiece. Ronaldo, who had moved to Spain had a fruitful first year, with 33 goals in La Liga but Messi overshadowed him, winning everything but the CL and the World Cup.

The Spanish language press had a field day after Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Real Madrid in a late season Classico, going to the extent of stating that Messi had ‘humiliated’ Ronaldo.

A columnist for AS said, “Cristiano turned into a roadrunner chasing shadows. By the time he found space and had the ball he was already exhausted and had to watch in despair as a genius like Messi destroyed Pellegrini’s defensive network.”

Messi dominates early phase of rivalry

On pitch, a lot of fireworks would flow from both players as their respective sides were filled with combustible characters that made for intriguing match-ups. From Messi grabbing Ronaldo’s throat, Ronaldo gesturing at Messi after the referee had flagged the ex-Man United man for a foul on the Argentine, to flat out refusing to shake the Portuguese’s hand prior to a match – things would gradually heat up as Messi would go on a run of four straight Ballon D’ Ors.

Under Jose Mourinho, Cristiano would become the focal point of Real’s attack but would end up short on silverware as Messi and Barcelona went on a spree. Messi would deny any hint of a rivalry in an interview with TIME, referring to his rival as a good person.

“I think he’s a good person. I think he’s a good player, who brings a lot to Madrid, and who, in any moment, can decide a game. I care about how Madrid’s doing because they’re competing against us, and they’re in our League, and because almost every year, we compete for the title. But against Ronaldo, no.”

Ronaldo’s nickname for Messi

Public engagement would follow a similar pattern over the next half a decade with the competitors claiming that the rivalry was all imagined and praising each other in interviews. While Ronaldo claimed Messi’s Ballon D’Or count inspired him, Messi labelled Cristiano a phenomenal player.

“Well sometimes it makes me tired for him too because they compare each other all the time and you cant compare Ferrari with a Porsche. It’s a different engine, you can’t compare. We both beat our own record so its amazing and I think we push each other sometimes. This is why the competition is so high. This is why Madrid and Barca are the best in the world,” Ronaldo said in an interview with CNN.

The rivalry had progressed so much so that Messi v Ronaldo had its own website, multiple Twitter handles and numerous memes. Guillem Balague in his book MESSI claimed that both players are not cordial but do not certainly hate each other. The Spanish football journalist also dropped a bomb when he revealed that Ronaldo had an obscene nickname for Messi in the Madrid dressing room.

Cristiano would come out and deny all the allegations, “I have the utmost respect for all my professional colleagues, and Messi is obviously no exception.”

On equal footing

With Ronaldo clawing back some ground in the Ballon D’Or race and also winning three of the last four Champions League titles, the rivalry has once again been ignited. The Portuguese has made it clear that they aren’t pals, “I’m not his friend but we are colleagues. We’ve shared a lot of moments together in premieres over the last 10 years and I have a very good relationship with him. We don’t sit down to eat together, but I respect him.”

Earlier this year, ex-Barcelona great Xavi claimed that Ronaldo could not stand Messi’s talent but the Portuguese hit back at the La Masia bred midfielder, “He’s never won the Ballon D’Or.”

The Los Merengues forward had sympathised with Messi after the Argentine temporarily retired from the Argentina national team after losing consecutive Copa America titles to Chile. Both had an international medal duck till 2016, when Cristiano would break his winless streak with victory at Euro 2016.

In a lot of ways, both are similar, even having fallen foul of the Spanish taxman. Both claim that the rivalry is imagined. But with Ronaldo, who’s poised to win a fifth Ballon D’Or that will take him level with Messi, openly taking on Messi like he did in the El Clasico this Sunday, it’s clear that there is more to come. The jersey show may still be brushed off as an one-off incident by both camps but to those having followed the players for the better part of a decade, it seems like the continuation to a saga that, truth be told, football fans have been lucky to be a part of.