Football analyst, Gary Lineker and several football fans have reignited the perennial Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo debate on social media following the shocking ouster of Juventus from the Champions League.
Ronaldo was called out and trolled on Twitter for turning his back in the wall on Porto’s deciding free-kick goal, as Juventus crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday.
If there is one debate that would not fade soon among football fans, it has to be the rivalry involving both the Argentine and Portuguese players.
Both have won 10 Ballon d’Or awards between them.
For over a decade, the two players have continued to dominate world football scene, smashing several world football records.
This time, however, the debate is sparked by Ronaldo’s performance last night when his club side, Juventus played against a 10-man Porto.
Ten-man Porto secured a major upset in the last 16, losing the second leg 3-2 in Turin after extra time but they advanced via away goals with a 4-4 aggregate result.
After winning the first leg 2-1 at home, Porto grabbed a massive away goal in the 19th minute when Oliveira’s penalty made it 3-1 on aggregate.
But the Turin giant struck back through Federico Chiesa, who scored two second-half goals on either side of a second yellow card for Porto’s Mehdi Taremi.
Though Juventus has a one-man advantage, they could not find to Porto’s resilient attack.
Oliveira’s second goal of the night came when Juve’s wall disintegrated – with Ronaldo guilty of turning his back and lifting his leg, allowing the ball to go through his legs.
Adrien Rabiot’s late goal was only a consolation as Juve crashed out of the competition, ensuring Ronaldo’s wait for European glory with the Italian side will go on.
Consequently, football fans singled out Ronaldo for his abysmal performance which fairly contributed to the club’s ouster.
According to former England international cum analyst, Gary Lineker, the clash against Porto has exposed the weakness of the Portuguese forward.
“Porto pinch it surely. We’ve finally found something Ronaldo can’t do: stand still in a wall. Blimey, Juve have scored again. 4-4 and Porto lead on away goals. Bonkers game,” he said.
Another troll @Messilizer wrote:
“Ronaldo wouldn’t let this happen”, a constant sentence you hear when Messi & Barca were knocked out by the likes of Liverpool and Bayern. But if that were true, why has Ronaldo been thrown out by Ajax, Lyon and now Porto in the last 3 years? How did he let that happen?”
Filipe Orlando, another user on the bird app, countered saying the star was not to blame.
“Ronaldo will get the blame for not being strong in the wall but the real villain is Juventus not creating a single chance for him in 210 minutes of football,” he tweeted.
