FC Barcelona

Lionel Messi's Rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo Drives Barcelona Star's Success

By Rob Blanchette , Featured Columnist

Sep 7, 2015

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In the decades to come, football fans will look back at the current period as a blessed era when two of the sport's greatest-ever talents battled each other. 

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have swept every prize in European club football since their teenage days with Barcelona and Manchester United, but even today, the presence of the other makes each individual stronger.
Messi has been lauded since he was a child; a boy superstar linked to the Camp Nou giants since his early teens and destined for stardom through their famed youth system. On the other hand, Ronaldo plied his trade at Sporting Lisbon before being nurtured by Sir Alex Ferguson at United, forced to take the hard knocks of the Premier League while he developed his physique and technique.

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The two players have dominated the global headlines since breaking into first-team football but have both received increased criticism in their latter years.
As CR7 captured the last Ballon d'Or—it appeared Messi was in decline and potentially on his way out of Catalonia. As recently as January, Messi was said to be "unhappy" at Barca, and ready for a new adventure in the Premier League, as reported by James Dickenson of the Express.
But against the backdrop of rumour and speculation, Messi and Barcelona rose like a phoenix from the flames, producing six months of football which destroyed every rival in La Liga and the Champions League, on their way to an historic treble.
Barca appeared to be in turmoil for the first part of the campaign, as Real Madrid's La Decima celebration stretched into the autumn months, but Messi proved he is still the best on the planet, in reaction to Ronaldo's Champions League plaudits at the Bernabeu.

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Messi needs Ronaldo in order to be the best he can be, and that's been more evident in 2015 than ever before. Former Barca attacker Patrick Kluivert told Voetbal Zone (h/t Liam Corless of the Mirror) that the Argentina captain simply wouldn't be as good as he is without the competition provided by his Portuguese nemesis:

Messi is in a different dimension with his football, but I also think he urgently needs someone like Cristiano Ronaldo. He needs someone who gives him an incentive to go for it every game, to see each match as a challenge. Both players are world class and a level above the rest.
At Barcelona, now there is only one central player: Messi. During my time, there were several important players there, though on the other hand Messi's nothing without his team-mates.

Messi did lose his verve—especially when Ronaldo picked up his most recent Ballon d'Or—but the motivation provided by Los Blanos and their star helped get the icon back to his best. The purchase of Luis Suarez also gave Messi a new foil for his creativity and talent, and in tandem with Neymar, they are the best forward line in world football.
For a player who most certainly isn't a striker, Messi's goal record is outrageous. Last year, he returned 53 goals in La Liga and the Champions League, per WhoScored.com, sealing his mantle as the club's all-time top scorer and obtaining all of the silverware that was up for grabs.

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Suarez recently spoke about his team-mate in glowing terms, saying Messi has no "equal" at Barcelona, per La Vanguardia (h/t Adriana Garcia of ESPNFC.com): "We all know that Leo [Messi] is the best. None of us attempts to overtake him or equal what he does. There is no jealousy. We are part of a team, and we don't compete with anyone. If you had several players wanting to compete to be No. 1, it would be complicated. I'm just here to help. I don't feel jealousy."
An ego like Suarez would not take a back seat willingly unless he was in the presence of the very best, and with Messi he certainly is.

However, it's the gargantuan presence of Ronaldo that's the lifeblood of Messi today, and there is certain to be a smirk on his face when he takes back the Ballon d'Or from his rival. Messi has already won back the UEFA Best Player in Europe accolade, per UEFA.com, with the world award likely to follow at the end of the calendar year.
At 28, Messi has already won enough accolades to fill several careers—but as we reach the twilight years of the battle between football's two greatest ever superstars, it is only the threat of CR7 which adds fuel to Messi's fire, which might have already burned out without Ronaldo's continued presence.