Lionel Messi's dad's five-word dig at Cristiano Ronaldo after his sister's brutal swipe
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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominated football for well over a decade – and their families also joined in with the fierce rivalry. The sporting world was lucky enough to witness two all-time greats battle it out in the same era. Between 2008 and 2023, the pair won 13 of the 15 Ballon d’Or awards up for grabs, with Messi clinching eight and Ronaldo earning five.
Ronaldo is two years older than Messi, and the Portuguese was subsequently the first of them to win the famous individual award during his time with Manchester United back in 2008, but Messi was not far behind. However, their rivalry truly crystallised when Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for a world-record fee the following year and was pitted in direct competition with Messi and Barcelona.
For nine years, La Liga hosted what felt like weekly battles between the two, as records were routinely broken. The greatest-of-all-time discussion continued after Ronaldo and Messi left Spain, and their families helped stoke the heated rivalry. In December 2020, one of Ronaldo’s older sisters Elma Aveiro basked in Juventus’ 3-0 win over Messi’s Barcelona in the Champions League. Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot and his sister celebrated by posting a mocked-up graphic of Messi bowing down to her brother with the caption: "My king. Greatest of all time. Pride of my life.”.
A year later, Messi's father Jorge stuck up for his son in the wake of criticism over his seventh Ballon d’Or trophy. Ronaldo felt he was more deserving, while many others favoured Robert Lewandowski or Karim Benzema, but Messi Snr responded by writing, "Bla bla bla... carry on,” underneath a photo of his son with his latest accolade.
