Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have continued to play on because of their competitive spirit which means they ‘can’t stand each other’, claims Jamie Carragher.
Ronaldo netted a hat-trick for Al-Nassr against Al-Wehda this weekend, taking his goal tally for the season to 47 strikes, before Messi dazzled for Inter Miami by grabbing five assists plus a goal of his own in a 6-2 win over New York Red Bulls.
The two superstars have been comfortably the best players on the planet over the last two decades, scoring 1,500 goals between them – with Messi claiming eight Ballon d’Ors and Ronaldo earning five.
Ronaldo, 39, and Messi, 36, have endured a rivalry that became apparent as they battled for the acclaimed individual prize across many years and Liverpool legend Carragher believes their longevity is down to their hatred for each other as they are constantly trying to ‘outshine’ each other.
Speaking to Football365, he said: ‘They definitely made each other better. But I think they probably can’t appreciate that until they’ve finished. While they’re playing, I bet they can’t stand each other.
Cristiano Ronaldo (left), 39, and Lionel Messi (right), 36, have played on because they ‘can’t stand each other’, claims Jamie Carragher
Carragher says the superstars have constantly tried to ‘outshine’ each other in their careers
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‘No matter what one did, the other would come back at them. They could never rest. They could never enjoy what they’d done as much because they knew the other one would be coming back at them to go and get more goals.
‘I always felt that if one of them scored a hat-trick, the next night the other one would go and get a hat-trick. They had to always completely outshine each other.’
Carragher added that it was remarkable to see two players win the Ballon d’Or so many times and doesn’t believe football will have two top players like Messi and Ronaldo play for so long at the top again.
‘Normally, if someone would win the Ballon d’Or two or three times, they were an absolute god,’ he added. ‘These two were both winning it five, six, seven times. And you’d think, ‘If Ronaldo wasn’t here, Messi probably would have won the Ballon d’Or 12 times.’
I’ve never seen anyone have the longevity at the top of those two. Maybe someone could get to their level for two or three years, but to go for as long as those players have, I’m not sure we’ll ever see that again.
Ronaldo and Messi’s rivalry began during a high-profile spell when they went up against each other for Real Madrid and Barcelona
Ronaldo was banned by Saudi chiefs after he responded to chants of rival Messi’s name by signaling towards his nether regions at the end of Al Nassr’s win over Al Shabab (left picture)
The Sky Sports pundit added that the rivalry between the pair would have been tougher for Ronaldo to cope with because ‘seven or eight people out of ten would say Messi was the better player’.
He added that narrative ‘must have driven Ronaldo on’ to become better and better to score more goals and win more trophies.
Ronaldo has regularly been teased by rival fans in Saudi Arabia over his rivalry with the Argentine, with supporters goading him with chants of ‘Messi, Messi.’
On one occasion this season, the Portuguese forward was irked by the chants as he made an obscene gesture towards Al Shabab fans who had been targeting him.
As fans chanted ‘Messi, Messi’ from the stands, Ronaldo was seen cupping his ears before signaling towards his nether regions in a video which quickly went viral on social media.
That gesture earned him a one-match ban by Saudi chiefs, with the player forced pay a fine of 10,000 Saudi riyals ($2,666) to the Saudi Football Federation, and 20,000 riyals to Al-Shabab to cover the costs of the complaint filing fees.
