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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as teammates? The duo are widely regarded as two of the best players of our generation, having dominated world football for over a decade since bursting onto the scene.
While Cristiano Ronaldo nearly joined Barcelona in 2003, and again in 2009, Lionel Messi has never really come close to leaving the Nou Camp. However, what if the moves had materialized at the time? What if Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi joined forces at a club?
Due to the lack of football recently, fans have begun posting montages of players online, ranging from goal compilations to historical games. One very thoughtful fan managed to put together a video, where the best moments from Ronaldo and Messi's career have been conjoined to make them look like teammates.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi sharing a dressing room?
The result? Fans on Twitter being left in wonderment and awe at the prospect of two of the greatest footballers of all time sharing a dressing room.
While Lionel Messi continues to produce the goods for Barcelona in La Liga, Cristiano Ronaldo has moved on to Juventus in Serie A and has aged like fine wine this season. The pair have scored over 1200 goals between them and have won 11 out of the last 12 editions of the Ballon d'Or.
Speaking to Portuguese news outlet TV1 in 2019, Cristiano Ronaldo claimed that he has relished his rivalry with Lionel Messi throughout his career.
"I really admire the career he has had so far, and, for his part, he has already said that he had trouble when I left the Spanish league because it is a rivalry that he appreciates."
"It is a good rivalry that exists in football, but this is no exception. Michael Jordan had rivals in basketball, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were great rivals in Formula One, the only common point between all the big rivalries in the sport is that they are healthy."
Similarly, speaking to Radio 94.7 Octubre in 2019, Lionel Messi explained that he and Cristiano Ronaldo are a notch above the rest of the players in world football currently.
"Today, there are very good players, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Luis Suarez, Eden Hazard, any of them could be the best in the world. But I took Cristiano of that group and put him with me."
"It was nice playing against Cristiano even if it was difficult. I enjoyed winning cups when he was at Madrid. It would be nice if he were still there. ..."
The pair share a professional relationship and have said time and again that they've buoyed each other throughout their careers. Cristiano Ronaldo also claimed that he would love to have dinner with Lionel Messi someday, which could prove to be one of the most iconic moments in the history of the game.
"I have never been to dinner with him, but why not in the future? I would have no problem with doing that."
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will never be teammates, but the video of them potentially sharing a dressing room was a fantastic watch! What could have been, eh?
