The Greatest Messi vs Ronaldo Match Ever.

When Messi and Ronaldo shared the pitch for the first time in the Champions League semi-finals in 07-08, no one was aware that we were witnessing history. Coming into the 12-13 season, the footballing world was more than aware to the fact that these were two phenoms who would not only define an era, but for many, define the sport. By the 7th of October 2012, we'd see two legendary players meet at the apex of their powers to produce a memorable night. And the run-up to the climax of this rivalry foreshadowed this. The 7-match run between the 11-12 Copa Del Rey final and the first league encounter in 12-13 is when El Clasico threatened to turn into the Messi and Ronaldo show. That run saw Messi having a brace and an assist, assist, assist, assist, blank, goal, goal. Ronaldo in turn went goal, blank, goal, goal, goal, goal, goal. The perfect warm-up for October 7, 2012. And coming into the match on matchday 6, Real Madrid had had a disastrous start, lagging 8 points behind Barcelona as cracks were beginning to show in the Mourinho machine. With the space between reports of dressing room unrest becoming shorter and shorter, a loss at the Nou Camp would have seen Real's title hopes dashed. Barcelona on the other hand were riding high in first place, and unbeaten under Tito Villanova. Despite the impressive results, the style wasn't quite that of the man Villanova had replaced, with a comparison paradox beginning to show at the Nou Camp, as every team was held up against the heady heights achieved under Pep. This lack of fluidity on the pitch was not helped by the injuries the Blaugrana had, meaning coming into this match, this was the 11 Barcelona fielded, seeing Adriano playing at left centre back, alongside Mascherano in a nominal 4-3-3. Real Madrid were at full strength for the encounter, lining up in their trademark 4-2-3-1 as we had seen time and again under Mourinho. The time had come, El Clasico, Barcelona-Real Madrid, Messi-Ronaldo. The opening salvo settled the match into a familiar pattern. Barcelona looked to play out from the back early on, but Mourinho's Real Madrid were ready to go toe-to-toe with the Blaugrana, even out of possession, and they looked to press high early on. When the ball was deep, Benzema remained central with Di Maria and Ronaldo often positioned between the centre backs and the full backs. It was an early trap that had success, as whichever way Barcelona opened, Real Madrid were perfectly positioned to enact the press man-to-man with the centre backs, whilst cutting off the full backs. Real's high press, paired with having Adriano in an unnatural centre back position, made Barcelona much more risk averse than usual, and they went long fairly often, where the towering centre backs of Real Madrid would sweep up and stop Barcelona in their tracks. Barcelona quickly adapted though, with Sergio Busquets now splitting the centre backs, meaning now, if Real Madrid kept their front three press, the outlet pass to the full backs would be far too easy, and allow Barcelona to break the press. So instead, Real Madrid had to be tactical and yield possession, dropping into a 4-2-3-1 mid-block to ensure the wide areas were covered, and instead giving up possession to the centre backs, which would then allow Busquets to move back into his natural midfield position. As always, he was the heartbeat of the team, and Mourinho, seeking ways to slow down Barcelona, assigned Ozil to stay on him as much as possible. But now in the 4-2-3-1, the Barcelona centre backs had too much time on the ball, stepping into the midfield, often unchallenged. And Barcelona's midfield was a double pivot, with Alves high on the right allowing Pedro to drop into centre forward. So soon Messi was also dropping deep, often meaning that with enough time, Mascherano in particular, could pick out a man between the lines. This dilemma would often see Ozil being drawn out from his position on Busquets, to stop the centre back having easy access into the midfield. But now this left the metronomic Busquets or even Xavi at times to get on the ball in space. Barcelona were having success in possession early on. Their midfield was fluid, drawing ever-changing shapes on the field, as they probed looking to catch a man in white out of possession for even a split second. And although Pedro did drift central ahead of Messi as we had previously seen, in this match that was not Villanova's main approach, instead having the Spanish winger being closer to the touchline for most of the match. Barcelona's most common midfield shape was actually a box, as Xavi was operating much deeper alongside Busquets, deciding the very tempo at which the game would be played. Iniesta and Fabregas caused the defence nightmares, rotating throughout, though they primarily stuck in the half space, which left only Messi. Rather than always strictly dropping in central, we often saw him take up a position in the right half space, forcing Real to make choices as to whether Alonso would move wider, leaving a gaping hole in zone 14, or if the centre back would spring forward to cover Messi and leave a potential gap. Barcelona were carving out positions around the pitch, as now they had a 2v1 against Ozil, meaning one of their conductors was always free, as the Real wingers defended the flanks. Sami Khedira, the much more mobile of the Real deep midfielders, was often drawn into the press, which was disastrous, as now Barcelona would have isolated Alonso in this crucial zone. So as the game progressed, the German was forced to become more and more passive. But make no mistake about it, this box midfield from Barcelona was no rigid juego de posicion shape, instead it was a loose guideline, a playground from which Barcelona could explore the best solutions, as their players consistently rotated or shifted to cause overloads in different areas of the pitch. Often Pedro would tuck infield rather than push ahead of Messi, to give them three men sniffing out spaces between the lines. And when Messi did draw a centre back out of position, Barcelona had runners aplenty, with the likes of Pedro, Iniesta and Fabregas, breaking their neck and looking to take advantage of the spaces. But rather than bypass Messi, Barcelona looked to hit him. Such was his close control that in high pressure situations, where they had no one else to pass to, Messi functioned as a different sort of target man, receiving in spaces so tight, it looked like he barely had room to breathe. Even early on Messi was looking like a menace. He would receive and turn Madrid men as if they weren't there, slaloming his way through lines of pressure, to open up the pitch to look for goal himself, or open up situations to play in his teammates. This happened time and time again. And to stop him, Real Madrid were forced into some more agricultural tactics. But for all of Messi's early endeavours, Barcelona did not look close to opening the scoring, mustering only one shot in the opening 25. Down Barca's right, Real's left, Ronaldo was involved in a much different fight. Pedro, out wide, was often joined by perhaps Ronaldo's direct on the pitch nemesis in Dani Alves. In the battle of El Clasico, the pair always waged a war of their own, facing off head to head on 30 different occasions across their careers. These battles took the shape of 1v1 battles, as Ronaldo looked to get past Alves. But Dani Alves was also not shy about showing his attacking flair. But more often, their war took the form that we saw in this match. A game of chicken. Alves, pushing high up in these situations, was looking to cause 2v1s with Pedro to create opportunities. He simply asked Ronaldo, how deep are you willing to come and defend to help the team? Ronaldo countered with a question of his own. How much are you willing to risk on the transition? In early El Clasico encounters, the answer had always been simple. Ronaldo hung higher up the pitch, awaiting his chance to counter attack. But with Barcelona keeping the ball so well, Alves more often got into these dangerous zones and could punish Real. So Mourinho had convinced Ronaldo that just for the El Clasico games, be willing to defend a little deeper. Which he did do. But often times it was a half-hearted attempt, as he kept one eye on the transition, meaning the 2v1 for Barcelona was often very much on, with Pedro or a midfielder often in this position to draw in Marcelo and create even more space for the wide man. And Barcelona were looking dangerous. But Dani Alves was playing just as deadly a game as Ronaldo was. When Barcelona were on the ball, CR7 was coiled, almost licking his lips at the space afforded. Whenever the ball did break down, he did not hesitate, hitting hard and fast into the right back position and leading the Real counter attack. Time and again this happened, with Ronaldo being so quick, he was often isolated from his teammates and Barcelona looked to crowd him out. But at times he slipped through, leading to distinct danger. All the chasing back eventually got to Alves and on the 26th minute he pulled up, hamstring ripped and unable to continue. Montoya was next up in the firing line, a long night ahead of him chasing Ronaldo back. In fact, early on in the second half, Ronaldo's transitional ability led to a stonewall penalty shout on Ozil. No spot kick. But before then, Ronaldo's scoring instincts were on full display. But to understand how this came about, we must understand how Real attacked when they were in possession themselves. When Real were on the ball, Barcelona were always primed to press high up the pitch. Messi, with Alonso in his cover shadow, stalked a centre back, not using too much energy, but rather forcing the centre back to play the ball across. This pressure would be backed up by Fabregas or Iniesta, looking to move on to the next centre back to limit the options available. Real Madrid were feeling the pressure, often going backwards, at which point Casillas would intuitively go long, looking to pick up Ronaldo aerially against Alves. This had some successes, with Ronaldo bringing in his teammates on occasion, but more frequently led to turnovers, with a ball dropping to a Barcelona man and beginning the dreaded cycle of chasing the ball around endlessly and trying to regain possession. Madrid had to be braver on the ball. Mourinho knew this, and it had to begin down the right-hand side of the pitch. With the left forward often being drawn infield, there was a vulnerability down Barcelona's left. Madrid exploited it. Cadera, in the deep build-up, would often abandon the traditional pivot role, dropping into an auxiliary right-back zone, allowing Alba Loa to push higher up, isolating Jordi Alba, whose strength was never going backwards. Once found, this gave Madrid options. They could enforce a traditional overlap, creating crossing opportunities, with the predatory aerial threat of Ronaldo waiting. But the two-versus-one could be made worse, as the likes of Ozil would come across, with Cadera moving up as the ball was being passed higher, or through a switch, to create a one-man advantage down the right. For all of the credit Barcelona got for their passing play, the speed of Real's combination play was something to behold. Where Barcelona hypnotised with their passing, Real cut straight through like a laser, their sole focus always being to get the ball between the posts and under the crossbar as efficiently as possible. And then the game changed. Alonso manoeuvred some space away from Messi, and Real had coordinated a three-versus-two down the right, with Alba Loa, deep in this instance, drawing in Jester. Ozil drifted to the right, perfectly positioned to receive the switch. He drew Alba, meaning Fabregas from central midfield came across to cover Di Maria, leaving a chasm in the central zone that Marcelo drifted into. He found Cadera, and Barcelona had over-committed to cover their left-hand side. Benzema received, and Ronaldo had gone dark, occupying an offside position that a defender could not drop into without ruining his entire side's defensive line. Benzema's excellent control drew in the centre-back as well as Alves, and Ronaldo had sprung back into an onside position at the last available moment. The angle was tight. Ronaldo was on his weak foot. A single spiteful swipe of the left boot, first blood to Ronaldo, the core celebration of a man built for this stage. Ronaldo won, Messi nil. But Real were not done. A minute later, they begun down the right once again, passing and moving fiercely, attacking the goal. Barcelona's left side did not know which way was up, and Di Maria snuck into the perfect position, putting it on a plate. Somehow, the ball stayed out. The game was threatening to get away from Barcelona. Messi had seen enough. In the 30th minute, he dropped between the lines to orchestrate the play. Xavi got onto the ball, and Barcelona looked to attack Real's biggest weakness. Ronaldo was high, waiting for the opportunity to counter-attack. Iniesta this time was on the right of a midfield box, and did enough to draw Marcelo central. Ronaldo began to track, but it was too late, meaning Marcelo had to cover. Pedro, with time and space to weigh up a cross, zipped the ball in, with Messi barely in the picture. It looked like Real had gotten away with it, but Messi had not given up. One mistake from Pepe was all Messi needed. As the ball dropped, he readjusted himself. Just like that, the game was even. Messi won, Ronaldo won. Real's nemesis had done it again. But Messi was hungry, and now every move he made was filled with even more intent. His eyes fixated on getting the winning goal. But down the Barcelona left, an entirely different battle was being fought. Villanova's use of an extra rotating midfielder was paying dividends for Barcelona. Very rarely did they stay wide, and instead they would drift central, with a man also in the half space. This would give them options, as when we saw Real looking to tie up both the Barcelona conductors, Iniesta and Fabregas were both happy to drop in to be the extra midfielder, and create a 3 vs 2, and move the side higher up the pitch. But primarily, they looked to both stay high, creating a 3 vs 2 against Real's pivots, where their quickfire combinations would often create space, where it looked like there was none. The midfield overload was killing Real, and Alba Loa would have to move in central to try and ease the defensive burden. But unwittingly, this played right into Barcelona's hands. Jordi Alba had rockets on his feet, and would make the late run time and again into the space, with Barcelona launching the ball over the top to him. They were making inroads, and soon the industrious Angel Di Maria had to sacrifice some of his cutting edge, dropping deeper and deeper, almost into a wingback position, to try and stem the threat of Alba. But still, the central overload was their main advantage. On the 59th minute, Busquets picked up the ball with acres of space, as now Ozil was now covering a man between the lines instead. Still, Xavi got on the ball and found Fabregas, but rotated high to the outside right space. Alonso looked to cover, creating a vacancy in the centre, and Fabregas found the surrounded Messi. Within two touches, the ball was out of his feet, and he was bearing down on the centre-backs. Alonso had a decision to make. He lunged in, stopping Messi in his tracks. The Argentine cut a frustrated figure, but he refocused as he grabbed the ball. At least 25 yards out, he faced a giant wall, and one of the greatest keepers of all time. There was no room for error. He stepped up. Messi had turned the game around. Messi 2, Ronaldo 1. Barcelona were on top of the world, oozing confidence with the Catalan crowd singing their praises. Real had to respond. For the majority of their match, they had stuck to their guns with some success. Jordi Alba's marauding runs left Barcelona light down the left-hand side, and Real had looked to take advantage of it, with Di Maria, Ozil and Benzema all making forays into the space. But they needed something more. No longer was Ronaldo occupying the wider role and giving the right-back a nightmare. Instead, it was time to prod at the aerially soft centre-back pairing of Adriano and Mascherano. He drifted central, joining Higuain, as Real's shift to swinging crosses often saw Ozil drifting wide left to be able to get the ball into the twin pairing. Nothing. Real looked like they were already running out of ideas when Casillas launched another floating long ball straight onto the head of Busquets. Barcelona won the second ball and for a moment, Busquets switched off. Cedera pressured Iniesta and the ball fell to Alonso. Ronaldo spotted what was going on before anyone else, as Alonso slipped in Ozil with Busquets the wrong side of the ball. Ronaldo made the trademark run behind the full-back and Ozil slid through a perfectly weighted pass. No hesitation, no extra touches, just pure, ruthless efficiency. Out of nowhere, Real had equalised. Messi 2, Ronaldo 2. Real's tails were up and Barcelona pushed high trying to regain their lead. The more they pushed, the more gaps they left defensively. Messi dropped deeper and deeper, looking to take control of the game. He had finished the match with 100% of his dribbles completed. He faced up world-class players and breezed past them like they weren't there and even resisted fouls. He was looking dangerous, creating chance after chance but never quite getting the finishing touch. Real retreated deeper and deeper. All the attacking burden was left with Ronaldo who still tried to hit hard on the break but to no avail. But late on in the game, Mascherano found Messi between the lines and he dragged Pepe out of position. The combination play still automatic even this late on. The ball fell to Messi on the edge of the box who wriggled and turned and Arbolona had to drag him down. Real took a collective breath as Messi looked to re-enact his second goal. He stepped up but even he couldn't recapture that magical strike. Barcelona would push for the rest of the match with no luck as this epic encounter would end 2-2 with two unforgettable performances from the superstars making this match truly iconic. And now you have a decision. Here's a video looking at Messi's most iconic El Clasico performance or you can opt to watch Ronaldo's most iconic Champions League performance. The choice is yours.