Ronaldo’s chance to kick Messi in the gut

AFTER a long hard-fought tournament, to everyone’s surprise, Portugal has made it to the finals. They will go head-to-head with France tonight. The odds are definitely in favour of France with the home-ground advantage. But, Ronaldo’s side, with some right combination of movements, at the right time, in the penalty box, just might ‘steal’ the show.

In sports, there have been some rivalries which have defined generations after generations.

Be it between F-1 racers Nikki Lauda and James Hunt, or between the boxing legend Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier, or Pete Sampras against Andre Agassi in tennis or India vs Pakistan in cricket; these rivalries have produced some of the best ‘moments’ in the history of world sports.

When it comes to football, there, without a doubt, has been no greater rivalry than the on-going one between Portugal’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinian star Lionel Messi. Ronaldo, with a Euro Cup victory just might clinch a big one up on Messi.

Lionel Messi, who is going through some tough times post his defeat in the Copa America 2016 final, with him announcing retirement from the international squad and then been given a 21- month sentence in a tax fraud case, just might have another ‘kick-in- the-gut’ if Ronaldo takes his country to a major international tournament victory.

The faithful football fans might argue that Messi and Ronaldo, have on paper, have always maintained their ‘camaraderie’ and supported each other’s success.

But still, if Ronaldo is able to win a major international tournament before Messi, he would go down in the history books for being the first one to do so among the two.

This would also mean that if Messi does not make a comeback to international circuit, it is a feat he would have never achieved in his career.

One point to note is that out of the two of them, Messi is the one to have appeared in more international tournament finals. Argentina has lost four consecutive finals with him starting a game:

Copa America 2007 final against Brazil by 3-0

World Cup 2014 against Germany by 1-0

Copa America 2015 with (0-0) 3-1 on penalties

Copa America 2016 with (0-0) 4-2 on penalties.

Ronaldo, on the other hand has just appeared in two.- Indian Express.