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Once upon a time this noisy world sparred over Pele and Maradona. The two names that dominated world football and split the world with their fan following. Time has passed and here we are into the 21st century and the world is divided once again. This time the two names are that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. No imagery of football can be complete without the mention of these two giants of the game. One constantly trying to overcome the records set by another.Also Read: Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo - Statistical comparisonAnd as it so happens with personalities like Messi and Ronaldo, fame piles up on fame and then reaches a point when they go beyond fame and become legends. Messi and Ronaldo are still playing and they have already become legends of the game. There fan following is therefore not restricted to the ordinary mortals. Some of the greatest sporting superstars are ardent followers of Messi and Ronaldo.Here let us have a look at some of the brightest examples.
#1 Tiger Woods - Messi
"How big is he? 5'7'' or 5'8? He makes everyone look stupid."
This what Tiger Woods had to say about the great Lionel Messi, when he returned to competition at the Tavistock Cup in 2012.
Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods, the American professional golfer probably needs no introduction. Born on December 30th, 1975, he is perhaps the biggest name in football. Just like Lionel Messi, Woods has been quite the prodigy, starting to learn golf when he was just 2 years of age. He was introduced to golf by his father, who also happened to be a retired Lieutenant Colonel and Vietnam war veteran. Colonel Vuong Dang Phong was his father’s friend, who was known as Tiger. It is in honour of him that Tiger Woods derives his name.
Tiger Woods was the dominant force in golf from the years 1999 to 2010 and was for a long period one of the highest paid athletes in the world. It was at the age of 20 in the year 1996 that Woods entered professional golf. He won the 1997 Masters Tournament by just 12 strokes in a record-breaking performance. He achieved the world number one ranking the same year. He remained world number one for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks for any golfer. Tiger Woods is full of such accolades. Was PGA Player of the Year a record eleven times, won the Byron Nelson Award a record eight times, has more career major wins and career PGA tour wins than any other golfer alive.
Troubled and distracted in his personal life, he suffered a lack in form and his ranking fell to No. 58 in November 2011 only to regain his top position in 2013, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A back disc surgery in April 2014 caused him to suffer another set back in form.
Tiger Woods is the youngest to achieve the career Grand Slam and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour.
#2 Chris Gayle - Ronaldo
The Jamaican cricketer who plays for West Indies, and is also one of only four players who have scored two triple centuries at test level, is a big fan of Ronaldo and he regularly tweets about his love for CR7. After his century at IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore against King XI Punjab he had celebrated by mimicking Ronaldo’s style of celebration. Here is what he had to say about it.
“I am a big fan of Cristiano Ronaldo. I was watching the Real Madrid game last night, I saw his celebrations and thought about doing it today. It feels fantastic to do it.”
Here is one of his crazy tweets:
Read more: 10 Chris Gayle tweets that prove his love for Cristiano Ronaldo
#3 Ronaldinho - Messi
Once team mate of Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho has always had the opinion that Messi is the greatest of our age.
“Every time he plays, Leo Messi reminds me more of Maradona, both left-footed and short, Messi is the best player in the world, along with Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo. For us it is not a surprise. Since he began to come and train with us and we knew we would go down this path. Someday I will explain that I was at the birth of one of the footballing greats: Leo Messi.”
It is often said that what Messi is to Neymar, Ronaldinho was to Messi.
Ronaldinho de Assis Moreira, is commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaucho. He is one of the most sensational attacking midfielders the world has ever seen. Well known for his mesmerizing dribbling skills, no look passes and his inimitable elastico. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldinho along with Ronaldo and Rivaldo formed the attacking trio for Brazil. Which they went on to win.
Ronaldinho has played in clubs like, Gremio, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Milan, Flamengo, Athletico Mineiro, etc. Among them, the most shinning period of his career was perhaps for Barcelona. They won two La Liga titles with Ronaldinho and the UEFA Champions League in 2006. Ronaldinho won the FIFA Player of th eyear in 2004 and 2005 and the Ballon d’Or in 2005.
It was from Ronaldinho’s assist that Messi scored his first ever goal for Barcelona.
#4 Luis Figo - Ronaldo
Luis Figo, once national team colleagues with Ronaldo, can claim to know a thing or two about the magnitude of Cristiano Ronaldo.
He once said with reference to critics who were unjustly after Ronaldo, “Those who criticize Ronaldo know nothing about football.”
Luis Figo has the most number of caps for Portugal. 127 times to be precise. Figo retired in 2009 after having an illustrious career with Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Internazionale as a winger. He has the record of second most number of assists in the La Liga, with 106 assists. Was the winner of the 2000 Ballon d’Or and 2001 FIFA Player of the Year.
Figo has played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, making him one of the few player who have played for both the rival clubs.
#5 Roger Federer - Messi
“Messi and I showed that [despite] being good guys we can be successful,” he had once said.
Both Federer and Messi display a style in their games that can be classified as graceful. Roger Federer believes that much like Messi, one need not be arrogant in order to be successful.
Often compared to Pete Sampras himself, Federer shares his Open Era record with Sampras for most number of titles at Wimbledon. He also shares his record with Jimmy Connors and Sampras at the US Open.
Currently World No. 3, Federer has continuously been within the top ten since 2002. Federer is known to be a versatile player being comfortable with the clay court, the grass court and the hard court. He is also famous for his between-the-leg shot, which is commonly known as the ‘tweener’ or “hotdog”.
Federer has won the Grand Slam singles title for 17 times and has reached the Wimbledon final ten times.
This Swiss international has had a career full of records.
Messi and Roger Federer have also done an exciting ad commercial for Gillette.
#6 Rafael Nadal - Ronaldo
Perhaps Federer’s biggest rival, Rafael Nadal backs Ronaldo as the best player. This is what he had to say:
“The next time you compare Ronaldo with another player, take a nap, you’re not well.”
Referred to as the “King of Clay”, it is believed by many that Rafa is the greatest clay court player ever. But Nadal has evolved himself to an all court player. He has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, A record 27 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and 16 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. At age 24 he became the youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam.
Nadal won the 2014 French Open which made him the only male player to win a single Grand Slam tournament nine times. He also holds the record of most consecutive titles at a particular tournament.
Nadal is known to be an aggressive counter-puncher. His top spin is feared by all.
Ronaldo and Nadal have starred in an ad commercial for Nike.
#7 Kobe Bryant - Messi
Kobe Bryant, the American basketball player who currently plays for The Los Angeles Lakers of NBA paid tribute to Messi by wearing the number 10 Jersey for the US National team.
“I wear Number 10 Jersey for the US National Team in honor of the Greatest athlete i have ever seen, Messi,” says Bryant.
Rueters have hailed Bryant as “arguably the best player of his generation.” Kobe currently plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball association. He has record of playing the most number of times for a single club in the NBA. He has started his 20th season with the Lakers. Bryant has led the Lakers to three consecutive championships from 2000-2002, and again to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010. Kobe Bryant is ranked third in terms of the leagues all-time regular season scoring and all-time post season scoring.
Kobe Bryant has also practiced with the Barcelona sqaud during one of the Catalan clubs US tours.
Messi and Bryant has done many ad commercials together, like the Turkish Airlines ad and The Selfie Shootout commercial.
#8 Usain Bolt - Ronaldo
“I fear none in the track...Maybe if Ferrari Ronaldo comes in the track I may tremble.”
The very own words of the fastest man alive, Usain Bolt.
Bolt has always been very open about his love for Manchester United and Ronaldo, having himself once wanting to join the club.
Often referred to as “Lightning Bolt” he has won almost every possible feat in Sprinting. This Jamaican sprinter is the fastest man alive, 11 times a World Champion, 6 times Olympic Champion, has won the Laureas World Sportman of the year award thrice. His world records are in 100m (9.58sec), 200m (19.19sec) and 4x100m relay (37.10sec).
Usain Bolt is of the opinion that he was good at cricket, perhaps better and he also played football, preferring to play as a goalkeeper or a midfielder.
#9 Diego Maradona - Messi
And we come to the man himself. Diego Maradona. The greatest the game has ever produced. The unstoppable Maradona.
Maradona always had great admiration for his fellow countryman Lionel Messi.
“I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi. Messi is a genius and he can become an even better player.”
Maradona earned the nickname of “The Golden Boy” or “EL Pibe de Oro”. Just like Messi, Maradona was a pint-sized but aggressive player using his centre of gravity to dribble past a numbe of players at one go. Maradona captained Argentina and the won the 1986 World Cup final defeating West Germany. In the same world cup Maradona scored two famous goals against England. One was the famous “Hand of God”, a handling incident by Maradona that went unnoticed and unpenalized. The other is the Goal of the Century where he dribbled past five English defenders to score the goal.
Maradona also has the record of setting the world record transfer fee twice. Once when he joined Barcelona and again when he joined Napoli. His best years were perhaps spent at Napoli.
Maradona and Messi have scored some almost identical goals.
#10 George Best - Ronaldo
“Maradona good; Pelle better; George best.” – This famous saying flaunts his name.
The very own maverick of football George Best was a legend of Manchester United where Ronaldo thrived under Sir Alex. And Ronaldo didnt fail to win his attention.
“There have been a few players described as the new George Best over the years, but this is the first time it's been a compliment to me." said George Best.
He was born in Belfast and started his career as a Manchester United winger. As the story goes, that the scout who spotted him wrote to Matt Busby saying, “I think I have found you a genius.” Best scored 179 goals from 470 appearances for Manchester United. He won the European Cup with United in the year 1968 when he was also named the European Footballer of the Year.
George Best left United in 1974 at age 27 and went on to play in a number of clubs. He was one of the very first footballers to attain the celebrity status, which earned him the title of the “Fifth Beatle”. Suffering from alcohol problems, his game went downhill and he famously said, “ "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds (women) and fast cars – the rest I just squandered".
George Best had 37 caps for Ireland and scored 9 goals from 1964-1977.
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