“It Was a Golden Era”: Lionel Messi on the Sublime Architecture of His Rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo

🇦🇷メッシさん
クリスティアーノロナウドさんとバロンドールを競い合ってきた思い出を語って聞かれ、

「最高のライバル関係で、最高に美しい記憶だよ」

と答える。

あおり合ったりせず、
常に互いにリスペクトを表明し合う二人。pic.twitter.com/dkU6VFew8I
— Trivela 🇵🇹🇮🇹ファンタジスタ愛好家 (@Trivela_Futebol) May 17, 2025

As Witnesses to an Unrepeatable Epoch

“In sports, it has always been a battle.”

Leo Messi spoke those words quietly, yet with an unmistakable, aristocratic pride.
Reflecting in his Ballon d'Or interview, he cast his gaze back across the consecrated memory of **football's golden era**, built shoulder-to-shoulder with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Silverware, shattered records, gilded pedestals.
Beyond cold data lies the far more profound story: two titans competing and harmonising at the absolute summit of human existence.
Now, Messi revisits that unrepeatable chapter in his own words.

“It Has Always Been a Battle”

It was always a battle in the sporting realm.
Between him and me, there was this colossal struggle.

There was not a drop of bitterness or malice in Messi's delivery.
What radiated from his tone was something vastly nobler: boundless reverence and fond nostalgia.

A margin of three Ballons d'Or between them.
Year after year, weighed against each other in the press, colliding on the turf,
waging open warfare across Champions League nights, El Clásico carnivals, and astronomical goalscoring charts.

“I think we fed off each other with that rivalry.
As competitors, his very existence became the fuel that drove me forward.”

The Relentless Hunger to Win That Forged Two Kings

“He also wanted to win everything, all the time.
Because both of us were so fiercely competitive.”

Two contrasting demigods of modern sport.
Messi, the pure, untamed sorcerer of organic touch and spatial genius.
Ronaldo, the sculptural colossus sculpted by ascetic discipline and ferocious willpower.

In style, temperament, and archetype, they could not have been more divergent. Yet they shared an identical pathology: the absolute refusal to accept second place.
Whenever one struck gold, the other launched a ferocious counter-offensive to match him.
And before the world realized what was happening—

“We remained at the absolute summit for ten, fifteen years.”

“Reaching the Peak Is Simple; Remaining There Is the True Torment”

“They say it's easy to get to the top. The difficult thing is keeping yourself there.”

Messi delivered that maxim almost as a quiet mantra to himself.
It was not a boast of fleeting triumph, but the sacred exhaustion of sustaining peerless perfection across generations.

For more than a decade, as bodies aged and seasons rolled on,
they sustained the duel, continually recalibrating what was humanly possible.

And yet, it was never merely a sporting confrontation.

“It was beautiful for both of us, and I believe it remains a magnificent memory for every single football supporter.”

Beyond Trophies and Tallies: Reverence and Living Myth

Messi and Cristiano waged war over every conceivable metric.
Goals, assists, continental crowns, Ballons d'Or.

Yet now, when Messi looks back, his reflections do not dwell upon victory or defeat.
What surfaces instead is: **“I am proud of the era we shared; I am blessed that we pushed each other to those heights.”**

“It was a spectacle, and it remains a sublime memory.”

And finally, he sealed the meditation with a philosophical shrug:

“We stayed at the top for ten, fifteen years. Exactly how long... honestly, I don't even know anymore.”

The Miraculous Resonance of Destined Nemeses

That interview radiated pride, wistful longing, and deep, unspoken gratitude.
Two adversaries locked in mortal combat, inadvertently lifting the entire sport onto their shoulders.

The intertwined names of Messi and Ronaldo will not merely live on in dry record books;
they will be passed down as timeless mythology.

It ceased to be an antagonistic collision; it became a sublime, cosmic resonance.
And in the hearts of devotees across the globe, one truth stands unchallenged:

That was, without question, the golden era of football.

🔤 Original Interview Transcript (English)

"It's always been a battle in the sports world."
"You have three more than him. Who is second in the ranking."
"There was this big fight with Cristiano and now you"
"I think we've fed off each other with this rivalry"
"He too always wanted to win everything all the time."
"We deserve a lot of credit for staying at the top for so long."
"It's just that we've always had these beautiful fights"
"and we always fed each other because I think the"
"two of us are very competitive so he also wanted to win in everything."
"We stayed at the top for ten, fifteen years, I don't know..."
"Because, as they say, it's easy to get there."
"It was a golden era for us and for every football fan."
"It was a beautiful time for both of us"
"because we're both great competitors."
"You've had quite a battle with Cristiano Ronaldo."
"It's always been a great battle, in sporting terms."
"since it's usually said that if you don't do something good"
"it's easy to get there in the beginning. The difficult thing is keeping going"
"and we kept doing that at La Cima for 10 or 15 years,"
"I don't know how long..."
"It was spectacular and a beautiful memory"
"for everyone who enjoys football."
"It was spectacular and remains a great memory for everyone."
"We stayed at the top for ten, fifteen years, I don't know..."

Reflections and Translation

“I have three more than him; he sits second in the historical ranking.”
“There was this titanic struggle with Cristiano, and even now...”
“I believe we fed off one another through this rivalry.”
“He too harboured an insatiable desire to conquer everything, constantly.”
“I think we deserve immense credit for remaining perched at the summit for so long.”
“We always shared these majestic battles.”
“We elevated each other, because...”
“Both of us were so fiercely competitive that neither could tolerate conceding an inch.”
“We remained at the absolute top for ten, fifteen years. Exactly how long, I honestly don't know...”
“They say reaching the summit is easy, but...”
“It was a golden era for both of us, and for every soul who cherishes this game.”
“It was a breathtaking period for the two of us.”
“Because we were two immense competitors.”
“It was always a pure sporting battle.”
“People often say reaching the top is one thing...”
“Yet sustaining that altitude is the true ordeal.”
“And yet we remained there, at La Cima, for ten or fifteen unbroken years.”
“For however long it was...”
“It was genuinely spectacular, an enduring, sublime memory.”
“For every human being who loves the game.”
“It was an unforgettable spectacle that remains our fondest recollection.”
“We stayed at the summit for ten, fifteen years. Truly.”