Lionel Messi Highly Praises Cristiano Ronaldo As He Talks on Rivalry

Lionel Messi was interviewed by Ballon d'Or France Football about his time competing with Cristiano Ronaldo. The two have been competing for the Ballon d'Or award for years, and the Argentine star recognized the sporting battle he had with the Portuguese star.
Lionel Messi: "It was spectacular and a great memory for everyone who enjoys soccer."
Messi mentioned his competitiveness, which drove him to win Ballon d'Ors, the same characteristic as Ronaldo. He recognizes that the two have been at the top for more than ten years, which he acknowledges is not easy to do. What some fans enjoyed seeing was the humility of Messi brushing off the comment of 'winning the battle' against Ronaldo, in terms of Ballon d'Or wins.
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This is similar to what Ronaldo said about Messi in the 2019 Champions League Draw. Messi and Ronaldo were sitting next to each other, and when discussing the 'battle' between the two, the Portuguese striker mentioned the longevity of the two at the top.
How Many Times Have Messi and Ronaldo Faced Off?
Messi and Ronaldo played 37 games against each other throughout their careers. Messi won 17 games against Ronaldo. Ronaldo beat Messi 11 times, and the two drew nine games against each other.
They faced off three times when Messi was at FC Barcelona and Ronaldo was at Manchester United. Ronaldo then joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2009. That began an era of memorable 'El Clásico' matches that would define league titles and Ballon d'Ors.
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The two played each other in 30 'El Clásico' matches. The last Barcelona vs Madrid match with Messi and Ronaldo playing was in 2018, where the match ended 2-2 at the Camp Nou.
The Last Time Messi and Ronaldo faced off
The last time Messi played against Ronaldo in Europe, it was a match between FC Barcelona and Juventus in the 2020-21 Champions League group stage. Juventus won 3-0 at the Camp Nou, with Ronaldo scoring a brace.
Messi and Ronaldo met again in 2023, when the Argentine played for PSG and went to Saudi Arabia to play the Riyadh All Stars. Ronaldo had just recently joined Al Nassr, and this friendly match marked his first game in part of the Saudi Arabian league.
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The French champions won 5-4, but the game is remembered as potentially the last time Messi and Ronaldo played against each other on the same pitch.
Last year, in another friendly match, Messi's Inter Miami took on Ronaldo's Al Nassr. Ronaldo did not play in the game due to injury, and Messi started on the bench. Al Nassr got the better of Inter Miami as they won 6-0 at the Kingdom Arena. Messi came on in the 83rd minute.

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San Francisco Chronicle​

an hour ago

• San Francisco Chronicle​

Club World Cup crowds have wildly fluctuated, from swathes of empty seats to 'hostile' atmospheres

MIAMI (AP) — As kickoff approached it was clear — the fans weren't coming. The Club World Cup, soccer's shiny, new competition, has been billed as the event to breathe new life into the world's most popular sport. It began a week ago in the United States, where sports stadiums of monumental capacity and steep tickets prices awaited the rowdy crowds seen at grounds across the world. 'It's like playing football during lockdown,' observed one fan on social media. For days, world governing body FIFA didn't register the attendance for the game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan HD on its official website. It took until Friday for a figure of 3,412 to be acknowledged on the site, but by rough count, there were less than 1000 fans in the stands as the game got underway. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 80,000 watched Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain vs. Atletico Madrid at the massive Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. The opening week for the monthlong tournament across the U.S. has seen some wildly fluctuating attendances. The Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan HD game stands out as the low point so far for FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, who is banking on the Club World Cup becoming one of the most popular and valuable competitions in sport. So sparse was the crowd that the word 'ORLANDO' — spelled out in yellow seats on one of the main stands at Inter&Co Stadium — was almost completely unobstructed. Crowd control stewards stood by the sidelines and monitored vast areas of empty spaces in the 25,500-capacity venue. The home of MLS team Orlando City — among the smallest stadiums chosen to host games for the tournament — was still massively oversized for the match, even with ticket prices falling to $23. A group game between largely unheralded teams from South Africa and South Korea was never likely to be a big seller. And storms, which forced kickoff to be delayed by more than an hour, may have led to no-shows. Still, it was an uncomfortably low turnout and one of three games in the opening week that drew less than 10,000 fans. Not even Chelsea, Messi, MLS can pack Atlanta There were also swathes of empty seats for Chelsea's game against L.A. FC in Atlanta. It was an afternoon kickoff on a weekday, but one of the Premier League's most popular teams vs. an opponent from MLS couldn't manage to fill a third of the 71,000-capacity stadium, with 22,000 fans showing up. 'I think the environment was a bit strange. You know, the stadium was almost empty,' Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said, and even with Lionel Messi in town for the second game in Atlanta — Inter Miami's win against Porto — the crowd was far from capacity at 31,783. Club World Cup ticket prices Uncertainty over ticket sales had been a point of debate in the build up to the tournament, with prices falling dramatically before the opening game between Miami and Al Ahly last Saturday. An impressive crowd of nearly 61,000 watched that game at Hard Rock Stadium, though it is not known how many paid anywhere near the $349 that tickets were being quoted at in December. As of Tuesday, FIFA said 1.5 million tickets had been sold and more than 340,000 fans had attended the first eight games. Infantino proudly proclaimed the Club World Cup was growing into 'the undisputed pinnacle of global club football.' Kane calls Hard Rock Stadium a 'hostile' scene Numbers in Miami have been good — nothing lower than 55,000 and topping out at a near-capacity 63,587 for Bayern Munich vs. Boca Juniors. Bayern forward Harry Kane described the atmosphere inside a stadium dominated by Boca fans as 'hostile.' Crowds have still come to Miami in a week when the Florida Panthers were playing in the Stanley Cup Final. Boca and Real Madrid fans queued up for hours in sweltering heat after arriving early for games. Largest cup crowd was at the Rose Bowl The biggest crowd of the opening week was 80,619 for PSG vs. Atletico Madrid in L.A. For context, that is just short of the 84,163 who watched the English FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium and well above the 64,327 attendance for the Champions League final — European club soccer's biggest game. World Cup, Champions League comparisons While there was not a sellout game in the opening week, 10 of the first 24 matches have seen crowds in excess of 40,000, for an average of around 36,000. The average for the Champions League last season was just under 46,000, according to soccer data website Transfermarkt, but like-for-like comparisons are difficult, given this is a totally new format bringing club teams from around the world to the U.S. At the 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar there was an average attendance of just under 50,000 per game for the opening week. Of the 20 games played over that period, the highest attendance was 88,103 and all but two of those games had crowds in excess of 40,000. Looking ahead to the World Cup Focus on the Club World Cup has been intense for more than one reason. There is still uncertainty over how much of an appetite there is among fans for another elite soccer tournament and it was unknown how many would be prepared to follow their team to the U.S. According to FIFA, the biggest take up of tickets from abroad was from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Perhaps more significant is what this tournament says about the men's World Cup, which is largely being staged in the U.S. next year. The Club World Cup could be seen as a gauge of how America's interest in soccer has grown since last hosting the planet's biggest sporting event in 1994. In that sense, it's not just about statistics, but optics as well. Which is why FIFA will hope to avoid a repeat of the scenes at Mamelodi Sundowns vs. Ulsan HD. ___

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

From attendances to NBA-style walkouts: Club World Cup talking points

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Hamilton Spectator

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Club World Cup crowds have wildly fluctuated, from swathes of empty seats to ‘hostile' atmospheres

MIAMI (AP) — As kickoff approached it was clear — the fans weren't coming. The Club World Cup, soccer's shiny, new competition, has been billed as the event to breathe new life into the world's most popular sport. It began a week ago in the United States, where sports stadiums of monumental capacity and steep tickets prices awaited the rowdy crowds seen at grounds across the world. But rows and rows of empty seats inside Orlando's Inter&Co Stadium on Tuesday told another story. 'It's like playing football during lockdown,' observed one fan on social media. For days, world governing body FIFA didn't register the attendance for the game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan HD on its official website. It took until Friday for a figure of 3,412 to be acknowledged on the site, but by rough count, there were less than 1000 fans in the stands as the game got underway. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 80,000 watched Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain vs. Atletico Madrid at the massive Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. The opening week for the monthlong tournament across the U.S. has seen some wildly fluctuating attendances. Orlando attendance is uncomfortably low The Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan HD game stands out as the low point so far for FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, who is banking on the Club World Cup becoming one of the most popular and valuable competitions in sport. So sparse was the crowd that the word 'ORLANDO' — spelled out in yellow seats on one of the main stands at Inter&Co Stadium — was almost completely unobstructed. Crowd control stewards stood by the sidelines and monitored vast areas of empty spaces in the 25,500-capacity venue. The home of MLS team Orlando City — among the smallest stadiums chosen to host games for the tournament — was still massively oversized for the match, even with ticket prices falling to $23. A group game between largely unheralded teams from South Africa and South Korea was never likely to be a big seller. And storms, which forced kickoff to be delayed by more than an hour, may have led to no-shows. Still, it was an uncomfortably low turnout and one of three games in the opening week that drew less than 10,000 fans. Not even Chelsea, Messi, MLS can pack Atlanta There were also swathes of empty seats for Chelsea's game against L.A. FC in Atlanta. It was an afternoon kickoff on a weekday, but one of the Premier League's most popular teams vs. an opponent from MLS couldn't manage to fill a third of the 71,000-capacity stadium, with 22,000 fans showing up. 'I think the environment was a bit strange. You know, the stadium was almost empty,' Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said, and even with Lionel Messi in town for the second game in Atlanta — Inter Miami's win against Porto — the crowd was far from capacity at 31,783. Club World Cup ticket prices Uncertainty over ticket sales had been a point of debate in the build up to the tournament, with prices falling dramatically before the opening game between Miami and Al Ahly last Saturday. An impressive crowd of nearly 61,000 watched that game at Hard Rock Stadium, though it is not known how many paid anywhere near the $349 that tickets were being quoted at in December. As of Tuesday, FIFA said 1.5 million tickets had been sold and more than 340,000 fans had attended the first eight games. Infantino proudly proclaimed the Club World Cup was growing into 'the undisputed pinnacle of global club football.' Kane calls Hard Rock Stadium a 'hostile' scene Numbers in Miami have been good — nothing lower than 55,000 and topping out at a near-capacity 63,587 for Bayern Munich vs. Boca Juniors. Bayern forward Harry Kane described the atmosphere inside a stadium dominated by Boca fans as 'hostile.' Crowds have still come to Miami in a week when the Florida Panthers were playing in the Stanley Cup Final. Boca and Real Madrid fans queued up for hours in sweltering heat after arriving early for games. Largest cup crowd was at the Rose Bowl The biggest crowd of the opening week was 80,619 for PSG vs. Atletico Madrid in L.A. For context, that is just short of the 84,163 who watched the English FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium and well above the 64,327 attendance for the Champions League final — European club soccer's biggest game. World Cup, Champions League comparisons While there was not a sellout game in the opening week, 10 of the first 24 matches have seen crowds in excess of 40,000, for an average of around 36,000. The average for the Champions League last season was just under 46,000, according to soccer data website Transfermarkt, but like-for-like comparisons are difficult, given this is a totally new format bringing club teams from around the world to the U.S. At the 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar there was an average attendance of just under 50,000 per game for the opening week. Of the 20 games played over that period, the highest attendance was 88,103 and all but two of those games had crowds in excess of 40,000. Looking ahead to the World Cup Focus on the Club World Cup has been intense for more than one reason. There is still uncertainty over how much of an appetite there is among fans for another elite soccer tournament and it was unknown how many would be prepared to follow their team to the U.S. According to FIFA, the biggest take up of tickets from abroad was from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Perhaps more significant is what this tournament says about the men's World Cup, which is largely being staged in the U.S. next year. The Club World Cup could be seen as a gauge of how America's interest in soccer has grown since last hosting the planet's biggest sporting event in 1994. In that sense, it's not just about statistics, but optics as well. Which is why FIFA will hope to avoid a repeat of the scenes at Mamelodi Sundowns vs. Ulsan HD. ___ AP reporters Jackson Castellano in Orlando, Florida, and Allyn Tucker in Atlanta contributed. ___ James Robson is at ___ AP soccer: