The two legends of the 21st-century football are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. In the last decade or so, the supporters of the two are divided, and the fights between the two supporting groups have been imminent. On the field, the duo has been a dominant force for their clubs as well as their national team.
While Cristiano Ronaldo has played at top-form for Portugal and Real Madrid, Messi has been in similar touch with magic at Barcelona and his national side Argentina. The two have won every personal accolade possible, scoring goals after goals going past the several records set by the legends of the game.
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Real Madrid and Barcelona have been the biggest beneficiary of the two players, who have led them to all possible titles, including the Champions League and the Club World Cup. The duo has always had a friendly rivalry and banter between the two camps. Reports surfaced that the duo could have played together, just imagine how the forward line would have been like.
The duo of Messi and Ronaldo dominated the footballing scene from the early 2000’s with clubs going head-to-head to secure the signing of the duo. Italian giants under the tutelage of Fabio Capello were so close to the signing of the duo.
Capello’s statements:
“It’s completely true that I asked Rijkaard if he would loan me Messi for Juventus,” said Capello.
“When the play had stopped for a minute I went over to Rijkaard and said: ‘You can’t play him because you’ve got three foreigners already. Why don’t you let me have him for a year?’ added the Italian.
“Rijkaard replied: ‘We’re going to clear up the situation in three or four months and for that reason, I can’t do it.’ That’s why Messi’s debut was last in coming.
“I knew the value of my full-backs, and when I saw Messi play, I knew he was special. I could see that he could do things that didn’t occur to other players.” concluded the Italian.
