Could Eden Hazard v Antoine Griezmann become the new Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi?

Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and Lionel Messi at Barcelona was for a long time, a war within the war that is called El Clasico.

With new superstars getting signed up at these clubs (and with Messi now taking on more of a senior player role at Camp Nou), we could be poised for a new battle for the Ballon d'Or.

Eden Hazard was eventually signed by Real from Chelsea, and Antoine Griezmann was unveiled at Barcelona after a drawn-out saga with Atletico. This could very well be the new La Liga player rivalry to look out for.

Why this rivalry becomes all the more interesting is because both of these superstars represent national teams which are positioned to compete for the biggest prizes in international competitions. This was more often not the case with Ronaldo and Messi, at least up until Portugal's Euro 2016 success, which was followed by the UEFA Nations League triumph earlier this year.

Just like Real Madrid and Barcelona will compete for the La Liga and other riches in Spain and Europe, Belgium and France will be top performers at the international stage for a long time now, given that they are ranked 1st and 3rd in the FIFA rankings currently, and have most of their top players at the peak of their careers (Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe respectively, to name a few).

Coming back to the players themselves, both Hazard and Griezmann are at the peak of their careers, and have finally realized their dream moves to the biggest Spanish clubs.

Both are 28 years of age, both were consistent performers for their last clubs, and both have the uncanny abilities to produce match winning dribbles or assists or goals.

Griezmann might have been the more prolific of the duo at their respective previous clubs, but with Messi and Suarez in the same team, it will be interesting to see if he gets as many goal scoring opportunities, given that he is slightly different in playing style to Neymar.

Griezmann scored a lot of goals for Atletico when he was playing as the main or second striker, which may not happen under Ernesto Valverde (at least initially).

He will also have a certain Philippe Coutinho (if he stays at Barca) and Ousmane Dembele to compete with for the similar positions.

Griezmann will eventually become the top dog at Camp Nou though, given that Messi and Suarez may have only a few years left at the top of their game.

Hazard on the other hand, will be the prime galactico at Real Madrid immediately, with the style of play revolving around his strengths.

That doesn't necessarily mean he'll score loads of goals like Ronaldo did, but he would be expected to overhaul his best scoring season whilst at Stamford Bridge.

Real Madrid v Atletico de Madrid - 2019 International Champions Cup

Hazard also has the ability to carry his team single handedly, like he did for Chelsea on several occasions.

Hazard also has an advantage in terms of being a natural (and cool) penalty taker, and his physical abilities have improved immensely, having faced a plethora of tackles/fouls in the Premier League.

Griezmann wouldn't care about the same though, as he will continue playing in the same league, which will mean he has no "learning curve" unlike Hazard.

It remains to be seen how this "war" pans out, but it will be nothing short of engaging and unnerving.

The good thing is, these 2 players are very calm and composed, so we wouldn't expect any "off the field" exchanges between the two, making the El Clasico even more interesting.