From being a thought crime in 2012 to a thought experiment in 2017, the idea of Cristiano Ronaldo as a football player on a par with Lionel Messi will be one of the greatest heists in football history.

Two men have conquered the Beautiful Game like none before them, and together, they hold a meaning beyond themselves. We are familiar with the quarrels surrounding them, we even know who we’d like to win. Of a routine brilliance that has stopped exciting our senses, Lionel Messi has been the champion not only on the pitch but also of football’s sense of justice. For long, the most obvious thing in the sport has been his unearthly talent and grace, and his undisputed greatness seemed the reason-for-being of a very powerful religion, of the “only one without atheists” as the famous Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano says.
But there are atheists in football, too, and in the manner of all religions, an atheist is a terrible situation for the devout. Even God is scared of him; what is a God who can’t convince you of Himself? That non-believer who complicates our football morality, who denies his inferiority to Messi, is now a man who also has won five Ballon D’ors: a lingering taint called Cristiano Ronaldo.
According to the numbers, which I don’t want to recount, Ronaldo is on a par with any great of the game, including Messi, but for the pious among us Messi has no equal. As if our faith has come under attack, we say, “Have no doubt, Messi is far superior.” For how can there be any when he can effortlessly dribble past several professional players and score incredible goals? Cristiano – we have seen him, he is only extra to ordinary; he can be contained. Sevilla’s former manager Jorge Sampaoli thinks that comparing anyone else to Messi is like comparing “a really good cop to Batman.”