Gerard Piqué claims Lionel Messi was never “obsessed” with Cristiano Ronaldo during the peak years of their Ballon d'Or rivalry.
For almost two decades, two footballing greats have engaged in a thrilling struggle for global supremacy. Messi won the Ballon d'Or, winning eight to his Portuguese rival's five, but both men boast an impressive collection of major honors and entries into the record books.
Messi and Ronaldo have taken the art of scoring goals to new heights, but Pique – who played alongside the former at Barcelona and the latter at Manchester United – insists the Argentine icon never loaned a lot of attention to how CR7 was doing. “It wasn't his style. He was very team oriented, even though he was on the front page of all the newspapers, radio and television. At the end of the day, he was very close to all of us and he only thought about winning titles like the Champions League and that kind of thing. In the end, it's because he was the best. Then he won the Ballon d'Or, but it was not a priority for him. »
Not a priority
Pique won major titles alongside Messi and Ronaldo, and his time in their company – particularly in his younger years at Old Trafford – helped make him a World Cup winner. “I was very young and every day when I came into the dressing room we had (Ryan) Giggsy, (Paul) Scholesy, Gary Neville. That generation of (the class of) 92 was incredible, but at the same time, there were the Rooneys and the Ronaldos coming. I remember that time like crazy, every practice was like a chance to prove that I was capable of playing at that level. »
“It was difficult, I can tell you, because every day you have to mark (Wayne) Rooney or (Ruud) van Nistelrooy or Cristiano, but it's good because for you, the level is more and more high, because you have a challenge to overcome. It helped me a lot to become the player I was because of those teams we had during those years at Manchester United. »
