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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are arguably two of the greatest players to have graced the UEFA Champions League.
With 130 and 115 goals respectively in the tournament proper (group stage to final), the duo are a proverbial country mile ahead of Raul (71), the next most prolific scorer in the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 170 appearances in the competition are the most by an outfield player and second overall (behind Iker Casillas' 177), while only two players other than Ronaldo have played more Champions League games than Lionel Messi (143).
Among a plethora of records in the Champions League, Lionel Messi (35) and Cristiano Ronaldo (33) have scored against the most number of different opponents in the competition than any other player. The duo also have nine Champions League titles between them, with Ronaldo winning five and Messi four.
Five times when Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi locked horns in the Champions League
With Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus drawn with Lionel Messi's Barcelona in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League group stage, the duo are set to renew acquaintances in the blue riband event of European club football.
Let's take a look at what transpired on the five previous occasions in the competition when Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi squared up against each other.
#1 Barcelona 0:0 Manchester United
(2007-08 Champions League Semifinal First Leg)
In their first meeting in the UEFA Champions League, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi drew a blank as Manchester United played out a goalless draw in the first leg of their 2007-08 semifinal against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
However, it was Ronaldo who left the game with the bigger regret as he fluffed a third-minute penalty beyond the goalpost, with Victor Valdes diving the other way as a cagey game ended goalless.
Ronaldo has since scored 17 of his subsequent 19 penalties in the competition, with his next miss from the spot in the Champions League not coming for another six years.
Incidentally, coming into the game, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were on two goals apiece in the Champions League, with Ronaldo opening his account in the competition in the previous round against AS Roma.
#2 Manchester United 1:0 Barcelona
(2007-08 Champions League Semifinal Second Leg)
After a goalless draw in the first leg, Manchester United and Barcelona met in the second leg of the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League semifinal with a place in the final at stake.
Just like Ronaldo in the first leg, this time it was Lionel Messi who squandered an early opportunity to give his side the lead. After a marauding run from the Argentine was halted by Paul Scholes just outside the United penalty box, Messi was wasteful with a free-kick from shooting distance.
In the 14th minute, Scholes made Barcelona pay for their profligacy. Receiving the ball about thirty yards from goal, the United midfielder let fly from distance as the ball swerved and settled beyond Victor Valdes. It proved to be the only goal of the game as United hung on for a hard-fought victory to reach their first Champions League final in nine years.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who was almost a non-entity in the game, said after the win
“The fans were fantastic. They did a great job and sang for the whole game. It gave the players the motivation and helped us get a massive result.”
#3 Barcelona 2:0 Manchester United
(2008-09 Champions League Final)
After meeting twice in the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi renewed acquaintances again in the next edition of the competition when Manchester United locked horns with Barcelona in the final.
While United looked to become the first team in the Champions League era to successfully defend their title, a rampaging Barcelona under Pep Guardiola had other ideas.
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol, playing in an unfamiliar right-back role due to the unavailability of Dani Alves, capitalized on a moment of hesitation in the United left-wing to devastating effect.
After an Edwin Van der Sar goal-kick was aimed in the direction of Cristiano Ronaldo, Puyol reclaimed possession burst forward and teed up Samuel Eto'o, who exchanged passes with Lionel Messi before opening the scoring.
Cristiano Ronaldo was arguably also at fault for Barcelona's second goal, but Lionel Messi's best in the game was yet to come. When Patrice Evra's poor clearance went straight to Xavi, Ronaldo could have tracked back with vigor and tried to dispossess the player but didn't.
Moments later, the master passer threaded an inch-perfect cross to an unmarked Lionel Messi in the center of the United box as Rio Ferdinand stood transfixed and was caught ball-watching. The unmarked 5' 7" Argentinian leapt in the air and sent a looping header beyond the reach of Van der Sar.
Talking about that goal in a later interview, Messi remarked:
"It was hard to imagine that I was going to score with my head with (Rio) Ferdinand standing near me, but I didn't really have a marker - the ball came into the centre, and I was there to meet it."
With the 2-0 win, Guardiola's men became the first Spanish team to win the continental treble as Barcelona completed one of the finest-ever seasons in club football.
#4 Real Madrid 0:2 Barcelona
(2010-11 Champions League Semifinal First Leg)
After three Champions League meetings with Lionel Messi's Barcelona while he was at Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo met the diminutive Argentinian for the fourth time in the competition with Real Madrid when the record champions locked horns with the Blaugrana for a place in the 2010-11 final.
In an ugly ill-tempered game at the Santiago Bernabeu, chances were at a premium for both sides as Cristiano Ronaldo, who was often the lone Madrid player up front, displeased with his team's ultra-defensive mindset.
After Pepe was shown a straight red card for a foul on Dani Alves at the hour mark, Barcelona made their numerical superiority count 14 minutes from time. Lionel Messi converted an inch-perfect cross from Ibrahim Afellay to open the scoring.
However, the Argentinian was not yet done for the night. Producing a moment of sublime masterclass, Lionel Messi dodged three Real Madrid defenders, and then two more, before slotting the ball into an unguarded net after drawing Iker Casillas forward, as Barcelona took a commanding 2-0 lead to the second leg at Camp Nou.
#5 Barcelona 1:1 Real Madrid
(2010-11 Champions League Semifinal Second Leg)
A week after winning by two unanswered goals at the home of their fierce rivals, Barcelona withstood some early Real Madrid pressure to hang on to their aggregate lead and reach their second Champions League final in three years.
Unlike in the first leg at home, the visitors were enterprising in the early exchanges, with Cristiano Ronaldo at the forefront of Real Madrid's promising attacking play. But it was Barcelona who further extended their advantage when Pedro converted an Andres Iniesta pass to open the scoring.
Real Madrid now needed to score four unanswered goals. Far from being crestfallen, Jose Mourinho's men rose to the challenge and equalized almost immediately courtesy Angel Di Maria. However, there were to be no more goals on the night as the two-goal defeat at home proved too steep for Madrid to overcome.
In the process, Barcelona became the first (and till date the only) club to deny Cristiano Ronaldo in five Champions League games. The Portuguese maestro has not scored in four UCL games apiece against Benfica and Lille respectively.
Barcelona would go on to win their second Champions League title in three years by beating Manchester United 3-1 in the Wembley final.
