The two bright stars of modern football are chasing
Raul's 71-goal mark in the European showpiece, with both likely to
surpass the record very soon.
As Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continue to take football into a
different stratosphere, the race for the UEFA Champions League all-time
goalscoring record is their latest battleground.
Having once again launched their quest for success this season
on Europe's grandest stage, the game's two biggest stars are close to
writing another entry into the history books.
It has long been a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if' the 71 Champions
League goal landmark of former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul
will be surpassed.
Ronaldo has 69 in the Champions League proper; Messi is on 68.
Goalscoring immortality is imminent for one of them. Yet Ronaldo v Messi is a race that will run and run.
Football rarely produces such compelling rivalries between individual
players but Messi and Ronaldo's exploits for sworn enemies
Barcelona and Real Madrid have cast the duo alongside some of sports'
most enduring man-to-man quarrels.
Like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in heavyweight boxing, John McEnroe
and Bjorn Borg in tennis and Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Formula
One, Messi and Ronaldo are destined to be defined by each other's deeds;
measured by one another’s excellence.
In this case, though, it is not weight of a punch or the speed of a
serve that sets them apart but the regularity of their goals -
breathtaking numbers reached at turbo-charged speed.
"I think they need each other," said Michael Laudrup, who enjoyed five years with Barca before joining Real in 1994.
"If one scores a hat-trick, the other tries to beat that," he told EFE recently.
It is a theory that Messi has previously refuted, remarking to Time
Magazine in 2012: "My mentality is just to achieve more each year. If he
[Ronaldo] wasn't there, I'd be doing the same thing."
Nevertheless, in the Champions League in particular, the stats
suggest the Barca man is being coy. Either that or a remarkable
coincidence has occurred.
Since being matched in close proximity by Ronaldo's move from
Manchester United to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009, both players have
hit the goalscoring hyper drive.
The Portuguese has scored 54 goals in 53 Champions League appearances
for Real. Messi has netted 51 in 55 matches for Barca in that five-year
spell.
Contrast that with the period before Ronaldo arrived in Spain: Messi
had 17 goals in 33 European outings for Barcelona - a fine return but
little indication of what was to follow - while the Portuguese found the
net 15 times in 52 games, excluding qualifiers, for United.
That is not to suggest Ronaldo was anything but a superstar when he
signed for Real. On the contrary, he claimed FIFA's World Player of the
Year accolade for 2008, having scored in Manchester United's Champions
League final triumph over Chelsea.
But the seeds of a blossoming head-to-head tussle were only really sown the following year.
In the 2009 Champions League final, Ronaldo was upstaged by
the pocket rocket from Rosario. Messi, who would go on to collect the
first of four consecutive Ballons d'Or, scored the second in a 2-0
triumph as Barcelona passed United into submission.
It proved to be Ronaldo's United swansong, as Real subsequently swooped with a world record €94million fee.
In his first three seasons with Real, Ronaldo scored 33, 53 and 60
club goals in all competitions - numbers that would have been without
compare but for Messi’s returns of 47, 53 and 73.
Last season, despite injuries, Messi netted 41 goals in 46 games.
That haul would represent a career-defining achievement for almost
any other player in the world, but it somehow seemed a slump when
Ronaldo notched 51 in 47, reduced the Ballon d'Or deficit to 4-2 and
also matched Messi's achievement of scoring in a victorious Champions
League final for a second time.
Ronaldo’s 17 goals in last season’s Champions League, a competition
record for a single campaign, also surpassed the previous best of 14,
set by Messi in 2011-12.
There is more to it than simply fantastical numbers, though. Their respective styles also captivate.
Messi's impish presence, silky touch and dazzling dribbling are in
contrast to Ronaldo's dominance through muscularity, speed and
precision. While defenders may suffer death by a thousand cuts at
Messi's twinkling feet, marking Ronaldo is akin to being repeatedly
flattened by a bullet train.
The media image of the two also sees the bold and brash exhibitionist
Ronaldo set against a seemingly humble Messi, who still looks faintly
surprised by it all.
Had they scaled the summit of European football by the same means, they would arguably not polarise opinion quite as they do.
At 27 and 29, the pair will dominate the football landscape for some
time yet and in all likelihood, whoever breaks Raul's record will have
only weeks, or even days, to celebrate.
Barring injuries, the new record holder will almost certainly trade
the mark with the other - with that exchange set to be repeated over and
over, season upon season from here.
In the quest for more trophies, accolades and, of course, goals,
Messi and Ronaldo are destined to forever chase one another until they
finally hang up their boots - to the benefit of every single football
fan on the planet.
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