The Asian Age

Ronaldo, Messi come face to face as Real take on Barca

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Barcelona ( Spain), Dec. 22: Cristiano Ronaldo has made his claim. Now he has to live up to it.

Ronaldo will face Lionel Messi on Saturday for the first time since the Portugal forward declared himself “the best player in the history” of soccer after equaling the Argentine’s five Ballon d’Or awards this month.

Basking in the spotlight of a glitzy ceremony under the Eiffel Tower, Ronaldo felt confident enough to put himself at the pinnacle of the sport, ahead of Messi and other greats like Pele and Diego Maradona.

“You will go and say that I have a big head, but when you’re at the top, it’s normal that you’re criticized,” he told France Football.

“I am the best player in history, in both good and bad times,” he added.

Personalit­ies aside, Ronaldo has a tough case to make.

He and Messi both have four Champions League titles, but Messi’s eight Spanish league titles double Ronaldo’s tally for Madrid and Manchester United.

Messi also has the edge in their head- to- head duels. Messi has outscored Ronaldo 19- 17 since Ronaldo joined Madrid in 2009. Prior to that, Messi scored in a 2- 0 win over Ronaldo’s Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League final.

The Barcelona- led Messi has also had a clear advantage over Ronaldo’s Madrid. Messi has helped Barcelona beat Ronaldo’s side 13 times, to eight wins for Madrid and seven draws.

Overall, Messi holds the “clasico” record with 24 goals in 36 matches. Ronaldo is one goal shy of matching Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano’s 18 goals against Barcelona.

The camera- shy Messi insisted again on Monday when he was recognized for leading the Spanish league in goals last campaign that he put more value on team titles than individual honors.

“Titles are our goal,” Messi said adding: “If individual statistics are there also, that’s even better, but they are not the objective.”

Ronaldo has no doubt closed the gap with the Argentine, Messi, after he led Madrid to back- toback Champions League titles in the last two seasons. But for Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres, this past decade is still set to bear Messi’s mark.

“If it wasn’t for ( Ronaldo), Messi would have won twice as much,” Torres said on Wednesday.

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