Goalscoring records, Ballon D’Ors, club and international honours – there has not been a single honour over the past that has not been headlined by a Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi theme.

Be it a heated debate on the street or an expletive/meme-driven war on social media, it has come to a stage where Ronaldo can’t feature without Messi being mentioned in the same breath and vice versa.

Never before in football’s chequered history have two greats played in the same generation. Between them, they have won every Ballon d’Or award – football’s biggest individual honour – since 2007.

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Despite completing well over a decade of embarrassing opposition defenders and scoring goals that are fathomable only while playing a video game set on “easy” mode, Ronaldo and Messi have shown no signs of slowing down. Some pundits argue that that they are getting even better as seasons pass on.

Since 2009, the two players have been involved in a collision course for silverware in the Spanish La Liga, where they play for their respective clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Ronaldo, the current Ballon d’Or holder, ran the show for his side, playing a part in Madrid winning the league title after a gap of five years.

It was in the Champions League that the Portuguese was at his vintage best, steering Los Blancos to a record 12th title with two goals in the final against Juventus. His feats have not gone unnoticed by Messi, who hailed the “phenomenal” Ronaldo, and insisted that their rivalry was a creation of the media, something that both players have maintained for a number of years, “He is a phenomenal player who has many qualities that year after year he improves and that is why he is one of the best in the world,” Messi was quoted as saying by the Telegraph. “That thing about our rivalry is something more invented by the press than by us,” he added. “What we want is to do our best every year, to do the best for our teams and what is spoken from outside is not something I give importance to.”

‘I’d like to end my career at Barca’

There have been murmurs of the Argentine unhappy at Barcelona, and that he was looking to pull down the curtains on an association that has lasted for 17 years. Messi insisted that he was keen on finishing his career with Barcelona, “Today, I [only] think of my day today, in Barcelona, where I am at,” Messi said. He added: “To strive to achieve and get the most titles that we can, because in football, we don’t know what could happen in the years to come. So I like to take it calm and little by little.”

Messi hinted at signing a five-year contract over the summer, which will see him stay with the Catalan giants well into his 30s, “[Staying with Barca] is what I have always wanted, what I have always dreamt of. I said that I would like to end my career in Barcelona, and we will see if it ends that way,” he said.