In recent times, there has been much debate about who the greatest player of this generation is, but on that front, only two players come to mind, and they are none other than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
There’s no doubt that Messi and Ronaldo are miles apart from any player of this decade, but the question is, who’s better? Leo or CR7?
The truth of the matter is that it’s all about individual preference, anybody can choose to forget about the stats and just like a particular player for specific reasons.
The likes of Juninho and Andrea Pirlo were loved for their excellent dead-ball abilities while Ronaldinho was at the centre of fans’ hearts for his flair and sublime tricks and flicks. Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp was loved for his footballing brain and playing style guided by his stillness and speed philosophy.
Most fans of the beautiful game are guided by a popular misconception which is ‘if you like Messi you’ve got to hate Ronaldo and vice versa ’ but that’s not how things are supposed to be.
We’re all football fans so we should appreciate good football no matter who orchestrates it.
Messi and Ronaldo are both phenomenal players considering the number of records that they’ve broken since their illustrious playing careers kicked-off, but lest we forget, they are rivals rather than enemies.
It’s entirely understandable when Barcelona fans choose not to acknowledge Ronaldo as the best in the world, same with Real Madrid fans when they pay no attention to Messi’s dexterity because of the intense rivalry that has existed between the two clubs for a number of decades.
Personally, I think neutrals don’t need to get carried away while debating who the better player is, as both players produce their unique kind of magic on a consistent basis which is something we should enjoy rather than argue over.
Messi and Ronaldo have two different styles of play, but they are both driven by one mindset and that’s winning.
Although many would argue that Ronaldo is the more selfish of the pair when it comes to goalscoring exploits as Messi lays on his fair share of assists for his teammates while Ronaldo seems to want to score every single goal for Real Madrid.
But while that is the case for the Argentine, Ronaldo aids his team in more ways than one for being an inspirational figure around the Bernabeu as well as being the go-to man in terms of goals.
Both players have unique background stories, but Ronaldo’s childhood saga is a little bit more eye-catching than Messi’s.
We all know the Barcelona hierarchy were so astonished at Messi’s ability that they had to offer him a contract immediately after seeing him play at a trial with the club;  it’s well worth noting that the contract was written on a napkin which makes it all the more unique.
A significant happening in Ronaldo’s back-story was when his high school teacher told him that football wouldn’t get him anywhere in life – I guess his current status begs to differ.
While there remains a maelstrom of comparison points for Messi and Ronaldo I think football fans should stop comparing them all the time and just watch them do their thing – just because you like Messi doesn’t mean you have to hate Ronaldo, you can love them both.