Messi did not ‘care’ about Ronaldo because ‘he was the best’ so rivalry was ‘not his priority’
Gerard Pique has revealed Lionel Messi did not “care” about Cristiano Ronaldo while he was playing at Barcelona as “he was the best” and therefore the rivalry was “not his priority.”
Messi and Ronaldo spent the best part of a decade going head-to-head in La Liga. The former played for Barcelona from his debut in 2004/05 until leaving for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021/22.
His rival joined Real Madrid ahead of the 2009/10 season and left for Juventus in 2018/19. That the pair played for the two biggest sides in world football, and therefore the biggest sides in La Liga, they were often compared to one another.
The fantastic performances of the other one surely made each player better, and they ruled world football for a long period. Amid the rivalry, Messi won the Ballon d’Or eight times, with Ronaldo taking it home on five occasions.
Messi did not care about Ronaldo
That both men were so good suggests they would have wanted to get one over on the other. However, according to Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Pique, the forward was unbothered by what Ronaldo was doing in his career, as he knew he was the best.
“Did Messi care about Cristiano Ronaldo? No, he was not that type of guy,” Pique told talkSPORT.
“He was focused on the team. Even when he was on always on the front page radio, TV, he was only focused on winning trophies for the team.
“At the end of the day, because he was the best then, he was winning the Ballon d’Or. But it was not on his priority.”
Ronaldo added goals to compete
Pique does feel Ronaldo changed the way he played, though not because of Messi – simply because of a desire to become one of the best players in the world.
“At United when I played with him, he loved to do tricks and was very skilful. But I assumed he realised that at Real Madrid, if you want to be the best, you have to score a lot of goals,” Pique added.
Ronaldo very clearly added the ability to score lots of goals into his game, not that he was not a good goalscorer before he went to Real.
In six seasons at Manchester United before that move, Ronaldo had bagged 118 goals, including 42 in all competitions in 2007/08 – he won the Ballon d’Or that year.
Then, in nine seasons with Real, the Portuguese bagged 450 goals – more than a goal a game – and added 131 assists for good measure, cementing himself as one of the best ever.
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