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Former Argentina winger Angel Di Maria once asked his compatriot Alejandro Garnacho to emulate a bit of Lionel Messi, having dished out Cristiano Ronaldo-like goal celebrations.
Messi and Ronaldo are two of the best players in the beautiful game's history and have each scored over 870 times for club and country and still going strong. having won big titles and individual awards galore.
Garnacho, like Di Maria, is one of a select group of players to have played with both legends. The young Argentine has played with Messi for Argentina and with Ronaldo at Manchester United; Di Maria has done so for Argentina (Messi) and Real Madarid (Ronaldo).
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About what advice he would give Garnacho, Di Maria told OLE (via GOAL) in a February 2024 interview:
“The only thing I wouldn’t do is celebrate like Cristiano. I would score the goal and I would do like Messi does. I’ll stick with that.”
Hailing Garnacho's potential, Di Maria continued:
“He is a very fast player. He has incredible ability. He is going to gain it with experience and coming to the national team, it is a place where you learn a lot and continue to improve. It helped me a lot to grow technically in every way, it is spectacular.
"I think he will grow with experience as well. When I was young I wanted to make the play 30 times in the game. Over the years, you realise that if you do it 10, but you do it better, it’s worth it. He has a lot of future, a very big future. It depends on him, on his head, to be able to handle it. I don’t have much to say, there’s a reason he’s playing for Manchester United.”
While Garnacho remains at United, Cristiano Ronaldo left the club by mutual consent and joined his current side Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia in December 2022. Lionel Messi, meanwhile, is with Inter Miami.
How have Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fared in international football this year?
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have had contrasting years in international football, especially the latter, who won a title with his side, Portugal, triumphing in the UEFA Nations League.
Messi has played just twice for Argentina in 2025, both in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, but is yet to score, having missed two earlier qualifiers due to an adductor injury.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, has played four times for Portugal this year, all in the Nations League, scoring thrice, including in the semi-final win over Germany and the final victory over Spain.
