Ronaldo And Messi Each Move Closer To Champions League Race [POLL]

The race to become the all-time UEFA Champions League goal scorer heated up again this week as both Lionel Messi and Cristinao Ronaldo each scored goals. Both stars are playing on another planet right now, and each could break Raul’s all-time Champions League record of 71 goals by the weekend.

It’s fitting that the two biggest stars in the sport of soccer, are about to rewrite history on Europe’s grandest stage. While the debate between which of the two rivals is the better player will rage on long after each has passed Raul, the one that does it first, will have a huge advantage in winning the FIFA Balloon d’Or prize for the game’s best player.

Messi started off the scoring action on Tuesday when his club, FC Barcelona took on AJAX. Messi scored his team’s second goal of the match as Barcelona went on to win 3-1. It was Messi’s 69^th overall Champions League goal, tying him for second with Ronaldo (at the time), and putting him just two goals from tying Raul’s record.

On Wednesday, Ronaldo scored at Anfield for the first time in six matches, to surpass Messi for second place, and put him just one goal shy of tying Raul’s all-time record. If you’re a betting man, you have to like Ronaldo’s chances to break the record first as he his scoring has been on another stratosphere as of late, and he will have the first chance to tie and break the record in the Bernabeu, with the support of the Spanish fans on Tuesday, November 4^th.

If Ronaldo doesn’t take advantage of his opportunity to break the record at home, Messi will have an opportunity to tie or break the record on Wednesday, November 5^th in Amsterdam. To add to the riveting drama that is their rivalry, the two superstars will square off against each other on Saturday, October 25^th in their Clasico La Liga showdown. In that match, both teams have an opportunity to prove who is the class of the league while Messi can break the all-time La Liga goals scoring record of 251.

Whether it’s Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chasing Roger Maris’ home run record, or Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fighting for the heavyweight title, Ronaldo and Messi are destined to be adversaries for the rest of their days. Years from now, when you tell your children about the superstar players, you won’t be able to name one without the other, as each will be measured by each other’s excellence. Regardless, their rivalry is great for the sport and for each other as they fuel each other achieve greatness.

“I think the need each other,” said Michael Laudrup who played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona. “If one scores a hat trick, the other tries to beat that.”