6 players who stopped both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo – a rivalry that has defined a generation. Two players who have stood above everyone else and dominated the world of football. Such has been their dominance that the two have shared the coveted Ballon d’Or award 12 times between them.
They have won countless trophies, apart from breaking almost every record that there is. However, they are all but mere mortals and as such can be stopped with the right combination of determination, grit and intelligence.
Apart from that, you also need a bit of luck and hope either of the two to have an off day or for you to be at your brilliant best. There are five such defenders who have managed to pull off this incredible feat of stopping arguably modern era’s two greatest players and for that they deserve our hat tip and acknowledgment.
Obviously, they did have some help from their teammates too. When the modern greats look back on these encounters they will feel that they could have done better during the game, but it is done and cannot be changed.
So without further ado, we take a look at the five players who have stopped Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi:
Arne Friedrich vs Cristiano Ronaldo UEFA Euro 2008 quarter-final (Portugal 2-3 Germany)
In the quarterfinals of Euro 2008, Germany came face-to-face against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. Die Mannschaft were looking to reach the semifinal of the competition for the first time since 1996 while Portugal were looking to vanquish the ghost of their defeat against Greece in the final of Euro 2004 at home.
However, at St. Jakob-Park, it was Joachim Low’s side who prevailed courtesy of a 3-2 win over Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men. The Germans took the lead through Bastian Schweinsteiger before Miroslav Klose doubled the advantage. Portugal pulled one back through Nuno Gomes but Michael Ballack hit them with a sucker punch.
Scolari’s side scored another in the closing minutes of the game through Helder Postiga but were unable to force the game into extra-time, thereby crashing out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage for the first time in eight years.
Ronaldo was subdued for much of the game and it was Friedrich's genius at right-back that didn’t allow the Portuguese star to have the desired impact on the game. Ronaldo did get the better of the German on one occasion, which led to the latter’s booking. However, that was the only time he got the better of the lanky German in the entire game.
Friedrich, along with some help from Per Mertesacker, was able to shackle Ronaldo, denying him the space or the time to do the damage that we all know he is capable of.
The loss ended another promising campaign for Ronaldo and his team as their search for that elusive maiden international honour lingered. Germany progressed to lose to Spain in the final of the tournament.