Messi no rivalry with Ronaldo

The Argentine says that he is not affected by
anything the Portuguese does, while he says that
he will remain at Camp Nou as long as Barca want
him
Barcelona ace Lionel Messi has insisted that "the
is no rivalry" between him and Real Madrid
superstar Cristiano Ronaldo .
The pair are widely regarded as the top two
players on the planet, having won the last seven
Ballons d'Or between them.
Ronaldo was claimed the last two awards and it
has been argued that the Portugal international's
recent success has inspired Messi to reach even
greater heights this season, with the Argentine
odds-on to reclaim the title as the world's No.1
footballer after inspiring Barca to a historic treble.

However, Messi insists that he is not affected in
any way by what Ronaldo does on or off the field.
"There is no rivalry – it is just something that the
media have invented," the 27-year-old attacker
told Short List.
"It’s not Messi versus Ronaldo; it never has been."
Messi and Barcelona's resurgence this season is
made all the more remarkable for the fact that the
Rosario native admitted publicly last November
that he could leave Camp Nou.
However, he says that he now wants to remain in
Catalunya for as long as the club want him,
admitting that he has never regretted his decision
to join the Blaugrana over other interested clubs,
including Premier League outfit Arsenal.
“It’s difficult to say how it might have turned out if
I’d have gone to Arsenal," he stated.
"My education would have been different to the
one I had at Barcelona but it’s obvious that the
Premier League is one of the most competitive
leagues in Europe.
"But Barcelona have given me everything; they
gave me an opportunity when nobody else would.
"I have never wanted to play anywhere else and I’ll
stay there as long as they want me."
Messi scored 58 times in just 57 games during
Barca's treble triumph, with the pick of the bunch
arguably his already iconic strike against Bayern
Munich in the Champions League semi-finals,
when he left Jerome Boateng on his backside.
However, he has played down the nature of his
individual brilliance, arguing that he would be
nothing without his supporting cast.
"My Barca team-mates are always close and they
congratulate me when I score but I couldn’t put in
performances like that if I didn’t have exceptional
players alongside me," he added.
“You always want to score but scoring isn’t
everything.
"Just look at Luis Suarez, who wasn’t scoring a lot
at the start of the campaign but he was working
hard.
"Now we are all getting among the goals and that
is good for the team, that’s what helps us get
results."