Messi v Ronaldo: A rivalry that has dominated for two decades

The Messi v Ronaldo rivalry in Spain may have ended when the latter joined Juventus in 2018 - but the global, ongoing debate wasn't disappearing. Ronaldo went on to return to Manchester United before moving to current club Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, while Messi moved to Paris St-Germain, before signing for Inter Miami in America's Major League Soccer - where he remains now. Having seen their impact in Spain, for the first time the players' moves were as commercially motivated as they were for football reasons. "Brand Beckham opened the door for what was possible and these two have kicked the door off its hinges," said Rob Pilgrim, head of sport at Meta for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Italian football expert Mina Rzouki, added: "You are not buying sporting excellence, you are buying a whole one-man economy." The numbers are astronomical and the rivalry continued. In 2018, Ronaldo joins Juventus and sells 520,000 shirts in the first 24 hours. In 2021, Messi moves to Paris and shifts 150,000 shirts in just seven minutes. Manchester United welcome Ronaldo back in 2021, and United's total sales of his shirt (£187m) are almost double those of Messi's at PSG. On Instagram, Ronaldo has close to 700m followers, Messi has 500m. The most-liked picture in the history of that platform is the Argentine lifting the World Cup trophy, amassing more than 75m likes. Financially, Ronaldo comes out on top - according to official channels anyway. …