Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Time to savour the last remnants of the great rivalry

In a quiet, semi-dark press conference at the National Stadium in Bratislava, two days after he was not shortlisted among the Ballon D’Or contenders for the first time in two decades, Cristiano Ronaldo announced to the world: “My rivalry with (Lionel) Messi is over.”

Almost philosophically, he dwelled on the rivalry that had defined the last two decades in football: “Those who like Cristiano Ronaldo don’t have to hate Messi. They’re both very good, they changed football history. He is following his path, I am following mine.”

But somewhere deep inside, one could sense that Ronaldo’s mind has not yet reconciled with the reality that his rivalry with Messi is over. He would keep touching on the subject, like an aging hero recollecting his glorious youth before his own memory fades out. He did not weep, his eyes were un-moist, but one could sense hollowness in his creaking voice, the void he feels without the contemporary who has fuelled, inspired and driven him to lift his game to the levels that he was not predestined to scale. In a sense, it’s a tribute to Messi that he has not just made his own teammates look better, but his great adversary too.

There was even a sense of fraternal bonding, when Ronaldo said: “We’ve shared the stage for 15 years and we ended up being, I wouldn’t say friends because I never dined with him, but we are professional colleagues and we respect each other.”

That has been the essence of their rivalry, a pure sporting one, and never an ugly or fractious one, a subtle undercurrent of mutual respect flowing underneath the torrent of excellence. Their careers have been defined by how they fared against each other’s teams. An El Clasico within an El Clasico, together they have inspired each other to