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What's the news?
Prior to Barcelona's Champions League tie against Lyon, Jean-Michel Aulas, the chairman of Lyon, has suggested that Lionel Messi has never been as inspiring as Cristiano Ronaldo against his team.
In case you didn't know...
Deciding the best among Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most sought-after questions in football, which has never got answered with full conviction due to the consistency and dominance both of them display every season.
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Lionel Messi, who currently plays for Barcelona, won the club-record 32 trophies during his career and has also won a record-tying five Ballon d'Or awards.
With the same number of Ballon d'Ors as Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo currently plays for Juventus and is the highest goalscorer(121 goals) in Champions League history. The Portuguese is the only player to score 50+ goals in 7 consecutive calendar years, along with being the Real Madrid's all-time leading goalscorer - with 451 goals.
The heart of the matter
When asked about who is the best opponent his team has faced, Jean-Michel Aulas said:
"Cristiano Ronaldo with Manchester United in 2004. We led 2-0 at half-time and after he goes back to him alone, delay, it was a rocket.
He continued:
"We faced boys like [David] Beckham, Messi, even though the Argentinian was never very inspired against us. We hope that it will last. He may have a flu, that would be nice.”
He also revealed how his team will contain Messi when they face Barcelona in the Champions League.
"The anti-Messi plan will be rather collective, where we will all have to respond. We will have to strengthen the midfield and the pressure around Messi.
“If you do individual marking to a man like him, at some point it will make a difference."
What's the news?
Barcelona will play Lyon FC in the first leg of the Champions League round-of-16 tie later today, whereas Juventus will make a trip to Spain to lock horns with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on February 20.
