Tissues at the ready. Football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi heartwarmingly admitted they miss each other since the former’s move to Juventus from Real Madrid, and Ronaldo said he wants a dinner date with the Argentine.
The two were seated beside each other at Thursday’s UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monte Carlo, when they were asked about their personal careers and relationship with each other.
“Amazing. It was a special year because I was nine years [at] Real Madrid, and to move to Italian league was a big move. But it was good," Ronaldo said.
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Responding to a question about their seemingly inseparable nature, Messi admitted in Spanish that he does miss Ronaldo, with whom he shared some of football’s greatest ever matches in the ‘El Clasico’ derby between Real and Barca.
“I was curious because we shared the stage 15 years. Me and him. I don’t know if it’s ever happened in football. The same two guys on the same stage all the time,” he said of their more than a decade-long reign as the world’s two best players.
“So it’s not easy as you know. And of course we have a good relationship. We have not had a dinner together yet. But I hope in the future,” Cristiano laughed to applause from the crowd.
“Of course I miss playing in Spain. We had that battle the last 15 years which is good. I pushed him, he pushed me as well. It's nice to be part of the history of football. I’m there and of course he’s there as well.”
At the draw, Ronaldo was ensured a trip back to Moscow, the scene of his first ever Champions League win in 2008 with Manchester United, as the Old Lady of Turin were drawn against Lokomotiv Moscow as well as Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen in Group D.
For Messi, who also won the UEFA Forward of the Year award for last season, his Barcelona side were drawn in one of the competition’s more challenging groups alongside Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Slavia Prague.
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