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If there’s one thing that makes Cristiano Ronaldo’s blood boil, it is the mention of Lionel Messi. While the two may always maintain that there is no rivalry between the Barcelona and Real Madrid stars, there is no questioning the change in body language and mannerisms when Messi gets the upper hand over Ronaldo.
And when Portugal played Albania on 7 September, the Albanian fans knew exactly what to do to rile up the Portuguese forward. As the teams warmed up before the game, a section of the home crowd tried to get on Ronaldo’s nerves by continuously chanting “Messi! Messi!”.
But was Ronaldo perturbed? Not exactly. In fact, it seemed to pump him up more. Ronaldo then went on to gesture at the fans, egging them on to shout louder. He pointed at his ear in a way as to suggest, “I can’t hear you, shout louder!”
And as the crowd responded, Ronaldo only smiled before continuing with his warm-up routine. That was all the crowd got – four seconds of his not-so-undivided attention. Portugal eventually won the game 1-0 thanks to an injury-time goal from Miguel Veloso.
Not the first time Ronaldo has been faced with ‘Messi’ chants
When Real Madrid had travelled to Bulgaria to face Ludogorets in the Champions League group stages last year, he faced a similar situation. Ronaldo had missed a penalty before dispatching another in a 2-1 win, having to listen to chants all the while
“It's been twelve years since I played at the highest level. How do you want me to comment on these things?” Ronaldo had said after the game.
“People should be happy to see Real Madrid and its stars playing here.”
The mention of Messi when there was no need for it has always angered Ronaldo. Another incident that comes to mind was when Messi was mentioned after Portugal beat Denmark 3-2 in 2012.
"You know where Messi was at this time last season? He was eliminated from the Copa America in his own country. So I think that's worse, right?”
