Bernardo Silva recently took part in Sports Direct’s game, where he built his ideal footballer, notably including Lionel Messi but snubbing Cristiano Ronaldo. The point of the game is to choose different footballers based on their best features to create an ultimate player.
Despite picking seven different categories (via Desporto ao Minuto), the Manchester City midfielder did not opt for Cristiano Ronaldo once. He selected Lionel Messi’s left foot before moving to his teammates. He picked Kevin De Bruyne’s right foot and former teammate Kyle Walker’s speed.
For strength, he selected another teammate in Manuel Akanji, before choosing legendary Brazilian Juninho Pernambucano for free-kick skills. Ronaldinho was his pick for skills, and Andres Iniesta for mentality.
Silva’s decision to leave out Ronaldo is rather surprising, considering the experience that they have shared in the Portugal national team. The duo have played 76 matches together, spanning just over 5,000 minutes on the pitch and combining to score seven goals. All seven goals were scored by Ronaldo and assisted by Silva.
Lionel Messi has looked back at his all-time great rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo and called it a “golden era” that pushed them both to higher heights of football history. The duo dominated the Ballon d’Or awards between 2008 and 2023 and won 13 out of 15.
Messi won an unprecedented eight awards, while Ronaldo won five. Their rivalry went further than individual honours as they led Barcelona and Real Madrid in some of the most iconic El Clasico clashes in history.
In an interview with France Football, Messi spoke about what pushed them to their legendary rivalry (via Sports Illustrated):
Both players are now playing outside of Europe’s top leagues. Lionel Messi captains Inter Miami in the MLS, while Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. Due to this, their direct competition has subsided.
Nnanna’s favorite club is English team Bolton Wanderers because he witnessed Nigeria legend Jay-Jay Okocha’s play for them between 2002 and 2006. His favorite footballer is Ronaldinho due to the Brazilian’s love for the sport and admires Pep Guardiola for redefining football tactics. As a former literature student, Nnanna reckons that the best way of connecting with the readers is to add a bit of empathy in his writing, and relies on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and WhoScored for his articles.
Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup trophy in 2022 is Nnanna’s favorite FIFA World Cup moment, and also follows Major League Soccer due to the diminutive Argentine. He strongly believes that Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could be the next two superstars in the same light as legendary pair Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
When not writing, he likes to play Football Manager and other simulation games.
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