Messi: Cristiano Ronaldo Is Not My Rival

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner has admitted that he has no rivalry with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and also said he will stay at Barca as long as the club wants him

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has said he does not see Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo as his rival that the trend was invented by the media.

In a conversation with Short List, the Argentine says in his opinion, there have never been a time he considered the Portuguese goal-scorer as his rival.

“There is no rivalry, it’s something the media invented. We both want to do well for our clubs, it is not Messi vs Ronaldo, it never has been.” Messi said (when asked if Ronaldo’s comparison motivates him)

The treble winner then went on to talk about his future with Barcelona and he doesn’t seem to have the slightest thought of leaving the Camp Nou in the nearest future.

“Barcelona have given me everything; they gave me an opportunity when nobody else would. I have never wanted to play anywhere else and I’ll stay there as long as they want me.” He said.

Messi was also asked about his Champions League semi-final goal against Bayern when he turned Boateng inside out, which provoked a huge reaction on social media and over the internet. The Argentinian said something more polite than football fans when he scored that goal: “My Barça team mates are always close and they congratulate me when I score but I couldn’t put in performances like that if I didn’t have exceptional players alongside me.
“You always want to score but scoring isn’t everything. Just look at Luis Suárez who wasn’t scoring a lot at the start of the campaign but he was working hard. Now we are all getting among the goals and that is good for the team, that’s what helps us get results.”

Messi helped Barcelona win the treble for the 2nd time in their history contributing 58 goals and 27 assists in 61 appearance. He is now with Argentina on a mission to win the Copa America.