The rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continued with both players shining in their national colors on June 5. However, many fans chose to go with the Portuguese this time for his performance against Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League.
At the time of writing this article, eighth-ranked Portugal were leading 14th-ranked Switzerland by 3-0 at the hour mark. Ronaldo scored the second and third goals and his free-kick led to the first goal.
If they win, Portugal could go to the top of their Group of Nations League, above the Czech Republic, who are drawing 1-1 with Spain at the same mark. Both nations will be on the same points (four) if the results stay the same, but the Portuguese will have a better goal difference.
Messi, on the other hand, scored five goals in fourth-ranked Argentina's 5-0 rout of 110th-ranked Estonia in an international friendly.
Fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Ronaldo's performance, comparing him to Messi or just appreciating him in general. Some even put his performance above Messi's due to the difference in quality between the opposition and the tournament itself.
Here are some of their reactions:
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continue to provide a spectacle
After more than 13 years of dominance across the footballing world with 12 Ballon d'Ors shared between them, the legendary duo continue to perform at the highest level.
The Argentine started his rout against Estonia with a penalty in the eighth minute before adding another just on the brink of halftime. He then scored thrice in the second half to complete the scoring for his side.
Meanwhile, Portugal started a bit shakily against Switzerland. Haris Seferovic scored early for the Swiss but his goal was disallowed due to Fabian Schar's handball in the buildup.
Portugal then stepped on the gas and received a free-kick just outside the Switzerland box. Ronaldo took the free-kick and his deflected low shot was saved by Swiss keeper Gregor Kobel. However, William Carvalho was on point to turn it in.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner then scored two goals within four minutes to put his side 3-0 up. He could've had four goals in the first half as he missed two brilliant opportunities.
Needless to say, it has been yet another night where the Portuguese has shown his class alongside the Argentine. The legendary duo continue to shock the world with their immense abilities.
AlexanderMadrid
373
Christiano And Leo fans tonight on goat debate here in all Football.
❣️ALLFOOTBALL❣️
310
WE ARE HAPPY TO WITNESS THE BOTH OF YOU.ALLFOOTBALL VALUES YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS BEAUTIFUL GAME OF FOOTBALL.💙💙❣️❣️🙌👏🏼
delouispascalino
81
Facts about Ronaldo fans 1. They are either Man u fan or Real Madrid sometimes Juventus 2. Their support for Ronaldo is always based on emotion either because he's play for them or gas played for them in the past. 3. They don't always appreciate good football, to them you can score goals even with offside, tap-in even with hand as long as it's counted you're d best. 4. They don't always like to say or accept the truth because of their biased loyalty to their club at which Ronaldo was once a player 5. etc...
Football⚽/Fan
36
It's Not easy to score in friendlies against South American Team,, But It's easy to score against European team in so called competitive Major friendlies or so called competitive qualify games.(Messi exposed it today)
Mangisha
29
My advice to not just Messi fan, but football lovers is to not be involved in any argument with fans of Ronaldo. They are too emotional, and pointless. They are talking abt Switzerland being better ranked than Estonia, which is true, but they are forgetting the many # of times Ronaldo played Luxembourg, Faroe Island, Albania, just to mention a few while Messi played Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile in both Copa America, and WC qualifiers... Only now that Messi has scored more goals against the same type of teams Ronaldo has scored most of his goals against that they are now looking at RANKS. PATHETIC. In any case, Messi has scored a hattrick against that same Switzerland b4. Messi 2/3 hattricks against European opposition, Ronaldo has ZERO against South America opposition. Messi just exposed European teams vulnerability, weakness in terms of competitiveness. 5 FUCKING GOALS. Imagine him playing in those WC and Euro qualifiers Ronaldo and his Portugal get placed while only one team of the form Serbia, they couldn't even beat, is a "big" team. Ronaldo fans are confused. They always avoid the truth. No matter how ugly things are,get, Messi has never gone to the WC via play offs. This was the 2nd time Ronaldo qualified for WC via play offs, if he was African where only the 1st placed team is chosen for the WC he would have missed the WC TWICE now. He won the Euro bcos of "THIRD BEST PLACED" team. I would like to appreciate both players, but Ronaldo's fans are the worst. You go watch some of Messi's goals vs Estonia, pure nice goals. Watch Ronaldo's goals vs Switzerland, basically tapins, any player in that team would have scored those. He actually missed equally simple ones. I watched the match, he would have easily scored 4 goals...Ronaldo fans are fucked, they have no excuses, in less than 1 year, Messi has TWO International trophies - BEST PLAYER IN BOTH OF THEM. Sth Ronaldo has never achieved.
Lotlmnpsty
29
Portugal cannot beat Colombia talk more of Ecuador Argentina sure will beat Sweden Poland England even disgrace Portugal on home soil,dnt mess wit d greatest player of all time…fans will say ronaldo is d best in d word but Pele Maradonna Ferguson Figo etc will tell u Messi is out of dis planet even Ramos can testify to dat
kezza12603
8
Facts about Ronaldo fans 1. They are either Man u fan or Real Madrid sometimes Juventus 2. Their support for Ronaldo is always based on emotion either because he's play for them or gas played for them in the past. 3. They don't always appreciate good football, to them you can score goals even with offside, tap-in even with hand as long as it's counted you're d best. 4. They don't always like to say or accept the truth because of their biased loyalty to their club at which Ronaldo was once a player 5. etc...
ur acting like he cant be considered as a goat lol if u take bias out of it like it or not hes considered a goat just as much as messi sure some ppl prefer messi some ppl prefer ronaldo deal with it they are both extraordinary players
_no_name_
8
Cant people that aside their differences and enjoy the moment as the 2 GOATS of football had just had a wonderful night today