The rivalry between the two continues unabated but Lionel Messi’s latest achievement is likely to stir up Cristiano Ronaldo bile even more over his failed transfer away from Manchester United.
In his latest exploits, Messi set two new Champions League records on Wednesday night to move past his long-term Portuguese sporting rival Ronaldo.
The Argentine superstar effortlessly netted from close-range to draw Paris Saint-Germain level away to Maccabi Haifi in Israel after Tjaronn Chery had given the home side a shock lead – netting their first goal in the competition (outside of qualification matches) for two decades.
The Israeli side’s advantage lasted only 14 minutes as Messi found space inside the area to bag an equaliser in the 37th minute after Kylian Mbappe’s probing run.
That strike was eponymous as it meant that Messi set multiple Champions League competition records with that feat. For one, Maccabi Haifa became the 39th club that the 35-year-old had scored against in the competition. That is more than any other player, moving him clear of Ronaldo – who had netted against 38 different teams in the trophy.
Furthermore, it was the first time that Messi had scored a goal against a club from Israel, meaning that he has now scored against at least one club from all 19 different nations he has faced in the Champions League across his career.
The Argentine’s strike equates another competition record as it also meant that it was the 18th successive season in a row in which he had scored in the Champions League. His first goal in the competition came in the 2005/06 campaign for Barcelona against Greek team Panathinaikos.
However, in terms of the number of overall goals scored in the Champions League, Ronaldo is still ahead Messi. The Portuguese forward has a total of 140 goals in the competition, while the strike in Haifa moved Messi on to 126 – 14 goals behind the Manchester United forward.
Insofar as the competition’s all-time scoring records are concerned, the two superstars are comfortably in the clear, with third-placed Robert Lewandowski sitting on 89 goals while Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are on 35 and 25 goals, respectively.
Ronaldo, to his detriment, is not involved in the Champions League this season after United’s failure to qualify from last season’s Premier League, in which they finished in sixth position.
This is the first season that Ronaldo has not been involved in Europe’s premier club competition since 2002/03, before his first switch to Old Trafford from Sporting CP.