Cristiano Ronaldo speaks on his 'healthy rivalry' with Lionel Messi | OneFootball

For as long as you and I continue to reside on this planet, we may never see two footballers completely and undebatably take over the football landscape the way Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have.

The duo have won 11 of the last 12 Ballon d’Ors and undoubtedly made El Clásico a can’t-miss event for as long as the two were in LaLiga.

Now that Ronaldo has since departed for Juventus, he’s been able to reflect those brilliant head-to-head battles between 2009 and 2018.

“I really admire the career he has had so far,” he told RMC Sport. “He has already said that he had trouble when I left the Spanish league because it is a rivalry that he appreciates.

“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.

“The only common point between all the big rivalries in the sport is that they are healthy.”

While Ronaldo only won two LaLiga titles (compared to Barcelona’s six) during that time, Ronaldo will surely be more satisfied to win four of his five Champions League titles with Los Blancos while Messi earned two of his four during the same period.

Should Ronaldo win the Champions League with Juventus, he’ll become just the second footballer in history (Clarence Seedorf) to win Europe’s premier competition with three different clubs.