Despite the intense competition between them during the past years, Barcelona star Lionel Messi
praised his rival Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo, considering him a “catalyst” to give his best.
In an interview with the Spanish “La Sixa” channel, Messi expressed his admiration for four players
and athletes, who had motivated him to give his best.
Among the players, Messi considered that Ronaldo was pushing him to improve himself continuously,
according to the Spanish newspaper “AS”.
According to Messi, the top 4 athletes who were catalysts for the Argentine star were the Spanish
tennis players Rafael Nadal and the Swiss Roger Federer, as well as the American basketball star
LeBron James, along with Ronaldo.
Messi said: “I really like all the athletes who stand out and leave everything to give their best.”
During almost 10 years, Spanish stadiums witnessed a frenzied competition between Messi and
Ronaldo, before the Real Madrid star, left for Juventus.
It is worth noting that Messi recently managed to break the number of the Brazilian legend Pele in
the number of goals with one team, after scoring 644 goals with Barcelona.
