Tom Victor Sport Trends Writer
As he turns 37, Lionel Messi is under no illusions about how much time he has left in his football career.
“Inter Miami will be my last club, yes,” the Argentina star said a fortnight before his birthday. “As of today, it’s gonna be my last one. I love playing football, I enjoy everything much more because I am aware that every time there’s less and less.”
The veteran is part of Argentina’s Copa America squad this summer, though, looking to add another continental title. His great rival Cristiano Ronaldo is in a similar boat with Portugal at Euro 2024, despite both men being in the twilight of their careers.
Messi and Ronaldo were the pinnacle of club football for some time as they traded Ballon d’Or wins. As Messi turns 37, Mirror Football takes a closer look at that rivalry… and everything the South American achieved before and since.
Ronaldo rivalry
Ronaldo and Messi weren’t in the same league until 2009, but the rivalry between the pair – at least in the eyes of the media – came earlier. The Portugal star, then at Manchester United, beat Messi to the Ballon d’Or in 2008 to set off a decade-long run where no other player claimed the award.
For most of that period, the pair traded blows in La Liga. There was a sense each brought the best out of the other, bringing about goal tallies that are scarcely believable even for those who were there when it all happened.
474 goals in 520 La Liga appearances was Messi’s final tally for Barcelona, with Ronaldo bagging 311 in 292 outings for Madrid, though take away Messi’s teenage years (Ronaldo moved to La Liga aged 24) and the goal-per-game ratios are even closer. In the Champions League, the pair sit one and two in the all-time counts thanks to Ronaldo’s 141 goals in 187 appearances and Messi’s 129 in 161.
How will you remember Lionel Messi’s career? Have your say in the comments section
Messi holds a record eight Ballon d’Or wins, with Ronaldo second with five, though four of those came in five years at Real Madrid between 2013 and 2017 during which he won three Champions League titles to Messi’s one. Still, Ronaldo’s reaction to Messi’s eighth win in 2023 suggested the personal rivalry continues to play on his mind.
Since moving to Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, Ronaldo has been reminded of his rival even more. On one occasion, during a match against Al-Shabab, his reaction to opposition fans chanting the name of the Argentine was enough to earn him a domestic ban.
Despite that, though, there remains plenty of mutual respect when it comes to the pair’s on-field achievements. “It is a good rivalry that exists in football, but this is no exception. Michael Jordan had rivals in basketball, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were great rivals in Formula One.” Ronaldo told RMC Sport in 2020.
Back in 2018, when Ronaldo left Madrid for Juventus, Messi said: “It was nice to play against Cristiano, he made Madrid a stronger side. I said at the beginning of the season that Madrid would miss him, as any team would.
“It made a lot of Madrid fans a bit angry but that is the reality. Any team would miss him. He scores 50 goals a season and he was the key player for them, of course, they were going to miss that.”
Tearful Barcelona exit
Three years after Ronaldo departed Madrid, Messi said goodbye to Barcelona. It was a slightly different situation, though – while Ronaldo had spent close to a decade in the Spanish capital, his rival was leaving the only club he had known since the age of 13.
Messi scored 38 goals in all competitions in his final Barca season, helping the team score more than anyone else in La Liga, but they could only finish third behind the two Madrid clubs after a late-season collapse. He bowed out with a Copa del Rey triumph, but any hopes of a farewell Champions League victory ended in the round of 16 against a Kylian Mbappe-inspired Paris Saint-Germain.
The Catalan club’s financial concerns were plain to see as Messi’s contract was allowed to run down in the summer of 2021. Once it became clear he couldn’t stick around – despite efforts to agree reduced terms – the gravity of the situation hit him.
“Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the Club cannot finally be fulfilled,” Barcelona said in a statement confirming ‘economic and structural obstacles’ stood in the way of a renewal. “Barça would like to thank with all its heart the player’s contribution to the enhancement of the institution and wishes him the best in his personal and professional life.”
Messi confirmed the inevitable in a press conference of his own, breaking down in tears as he confirmed he was leaving Camp Nou after more than two decades. “I did everything to stay. I can’t add anything else,” he said.
“No doubt, this is the hardest moment [of my career],” Messi told reporters when confirming the exit. “We got hurtful defeats but football gives you a chance to revenge that. But there is no turning point to this”
“I feel very sad now as I have to leave a club that I love. I did not expect this. I always told the truth. Last year I wanted to leave, this year I did not want to leave”
Two years at Paris Saint-Germain followed, with Messi unable to add a Champions League title with the French club, before a move to Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. Speculation over a Barcelona return continued to follow him around during that period, and he would later reflect on how tough things were.
“My departure from Barcelona to Paris was not something I wanted,” Messi admitted in the summer of 2023. I did not want to leave and it happened from one day to the next, it also took a while for me to quickly get used to a totally different place both in the city and in sports and made it difficult.”
World Cup triumph
Despite his individual and club honours with Barcelona, international glory continued to evade him. There were plenty of painful moments, not least the 2014 World Cup final loss and defeats to Chile in the final of the Copa America.
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AFP/Getty Images)
It’s easy to forget how well Messi played in that 2014 run, taking an often-ordinary Argentina side within touching distance of glory. The 2018 campaign was over before it really got started, with the Albiceleste scraping out of their group but losing to eventual champions France in the round of 16, but it was a different story in 2022.
Things started in the worst possible fashion, with Saudi Arabia stunning Argentina despite Messi scoring from the penalty spot. After the 2-1 loss, he was almost lost for words while recognizing the size of the task ahead.
“I had never suffered such a hard blow with this group of players,” he said. “Things happen for a reason. Now, we have to win or win.”
Win and win is exactly what they did. A deadlock-breaking goal from Messi against Mexico set up a 2-0 win and brought back memories of his strikes in 2014, but it was team-mates Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez who came up with the goods after Messi saw a penalty saved by Poland’s Wojciech Szczesny in the crucial final group game.
When it came to the knockouts, Messi stepped up in a big way. He scored in each of Argentina’s matches as they overcame Australia, The Netherlands, and Croatia to book their place in the final, also netting in the penalty shoot-out against the Dutch – just as he had done in the 2014 semis.
He was on target again in the final, but things were never going to be easy. A Messi penalty and a second goal from Angel Di Maria put the South Americans two goals to the good against France with 10 minutes remaining, only for a quickfire Kylian Mbappe brace to force extra-time.
Messi netted again in the extra period, only for Mbappe to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot, and only a big save from Emi Martinez stopped Randal Kolo Muani scoring a last-gasp winner for Les Bleus. Another Martinez save denied Kingsley Coman in the shoot-out, and Messi and Argentina could finally breathe a sigh of relief when Gonzalo Montiel put away the winning spot-kick.
Martinez would later lift the lid on the “amazing” speech from Messi which paved the way for that success. “[He was] talking about family and what it cost us to be at the World Cup,” Martinez said during the ‘Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend’ Apple TV documentary.
“It made us cry to basically everyone. It was like a group of friends going on an adventure and reaching the end. He said, ‘Whatever happens, thank you for everything you have done for me.’ And he would say, ‘This is it, this is the one. We have to hold it.'”
They did indeed hold it, delivering Messi the World Cup he was striving for ever since playing in the competition for the first time back in 2006. It came after a Copa America triumph in 2021 – almost unbelievably the first of his career.
Messi might not have long to go in his career, but he still has time to add to his achievements. Inter Miami are pushing for silverware after reuniting Messi with his former Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez, and he could yet celebrate another international title right at home in Florida as he aims to go back-to-back.
Argentina got off to a winning start in the 2024 Copa America, which is being held in the United States. Victory in the final at Miami Gardens would be the ideal way to cap off an international career that has – at last – delivered everything it promised.
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