Jose Mourinho talks Ronaldo & Messi heroics, Zidane Real return

A meeting between Barcelona and Juventus in the Champions League final would be very interesting.

It would, of course, mean Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo going head-to-head for Europe’s biggest prize.

It wouldn’t be the first time that that has happened – they met in the final in 2009, when Ronaldo’s Manchester United were beaten 2-0 by Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

But Ronaldo has since gone on to make the Champions League his own, winning the competition four times with Real Madrid and becoming the top scorer with 124 goals.

He added three to his tally in Juventus’ 3-0 win against Atletico Madrid, producing a virtuoso performance as the Old Lady came back from a 2-0 first-leg deficit.

Not to be forgotten about, Messi followed that up by scoring twice and assisting two goals in Barcelona’s 5-1 win against Lyon on Wednesday.

The two players stepped up when their clubs needed them to and both will be eyeing Champions League glory.

Messi and Ronaldo were part of the discussion on Jose Mourinho’s RT show ‘On the Touchline’, and he explained why they are both lucky and unlucky to be playing at the same time as each other.

In Mourinho’s opinion, Messi and Ronaldo drive each other on through their respective accomplishments. But the downside is they have to share the accolades.

“I think they are lucky and they are unlucky to be in the same generation,” Mourinho said.

“They are lucky because they can compete against each other, they are lucky because they look to each other, in a positive way, they get extra motivation with the things they do, the number of hat-tricks, the number of champions, the number of gold boots…


“I think they have to be happy and lucky to be in the same generation.”

Yet if Messi wasn’t around, Ronaldo would have many more Ballon d’Or awards and the same could be said about the Argentinian if the Juventus star didn’t exist.

“They are unlucky because if there is only one of them, they would have like 10 golden balls, golden boots,” Mourinho added.


Messi is 31 now, while Ronaldo turned 34 last month. And Mourinho believes their achievements serve as great motivation for the players hoping to replace them on the throne.

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“I call them the little monsters, they are coming behind. And the bar is really high. It’s really incredible motivation for guys like Neymar, (Kylian) Mbappe, (Antoine) Griezmann,” the Portuguese coach continued.

“I think Griezmann looked to Cristiano (on Tuesday) and thought, ‘OK, I am world champion, I am Europa League winner, I am doing fantastically well, but look at this.’ 

“So I think also a great motivation for these guys, because unfortunately Messi and Ronaldo they don’t last forever.”


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