Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi Compared by Ex-Real Madrid GM Jorge Valdano

Ronaldo is the player of the 21st century. Messi is from the street and Ronaldo the gym. He has more mechanical movements, more robotic. It starts with the ability to give the ball to a shirt of the same colour. For that, whether you’re big or small is indifferent.

The struggle between opposites is very entertaining and will never end. It’s as old as football and in 50 years there’ll be other names.

Former Real Madrid general manager Jorge Valdano describedLionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's individual rivalry as "very entertaining," pointing to the pair's differing styles as to what marks them out as special. 

The Liga pair have long been considered the two best players in the world—they have shared the last eight Ballon d'Or awards—and there is continuing debate the world over as to who is better, Real Madrid's Ronaldo or Barcelona's Messi.

Valdano indicated they are somewhat incomparable, as they both learned their football in different environments, per AS (via Football Espana)

They are certainly very different players, Portuguese Ronaldo can use his height and physicality to intimidate opponents while Argentinian Messi bamboozles with his perfect balance and movement.

Both styles return similarly superlative results—Opta provided their respective statistics in La Liga since Ronaldo joined Real from Manchester United in 2009

Messi holds the edge statistically in their respective La Liga records, but Ronaldo is the current all-time leading goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League with 93 goals, 10 clear of second-placed Messi, per UEFA.com.

And the 31-year-old has the chance to add a third Champions League medal to his trophy cabinet this season when Real meet Atletico Madrid in the final on May 28—although Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe and Dean Jones are not confident he will succeed.

Meanwhile, Messi looks set to claim an eighth career La Liga title as long as Barca can hold off Real and Atleti in the title race.

The pair's consistency over the best part of the last decade has been quite staggering, and they will both go down as greats of the game, even if they never win another trophy.

As Valdano noted, there are likely to be players in the future with their talent, but what is less of a guarantee is whether two such stars will emerge together in the same era, as Ronaldo and Messi have done.

The rivalry between the two has unquestionably pushed them to even greater heights and made for a remarkable battle between them and their respective clubs.