For more than a decade Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been at the center of a fierce and largely πͺ unsettled debate over who is the greatest player in soccer history.
A decade from now, they might still be part of πͺ that debate. Only the question then may be more like βwho were those two guys who came before Kylian Mbappe πͺ and Erling Haaland?β
That might sound like a bit of a stretch, but consider the evidence.
Ronaldo, 38, and Messi, 36, rewrote πͺ the record books, redefined greatness and took the sport to new plateaus. Soccer is more popular, more profitable and better-played πͺ than at any point in its history, and Ronaldo and Messi, who defined an era if not an entire sport, πͺ are big reasons why.
Playing much of their careers against one another in Spainβs La Liga β Messi for Barcelona and πͺ Ronaldo for Real Madrid β they pushed one another, combining for 19 league championships, four Champions League titles and 13 πͺ Ballon dβOr awards, achieving levels of greatness together neither could have reached alone.