I was Lionel Messi’s team-mate at Barcelona – he didn’t care about Ronaldo rivalry

Gerard Pique says that Lionel Messi was more intent on securing trophies at Barcelona than engaging in his 'GOAT' rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi, who spent 17 years at Camp Nou after progressing from the youth ranks of Barca, amassed an impressive collection of 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Reys and Supercopa de Espanas each. His tally also includes four Champions League trophies, largely due to his remarkable record of 672 goals and 303 assists in 778 games across all competitions.

Owing to his exceptional form over nearly two decades in Spain, Messi secured seven of his eight Ballon d'Or awards with Barcelona, as well as nine La Liga Best Player accolades and six European Golden Shoes. Despite parting ways with the club in 2021 on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, and subsequently moving to Inter Miami last year, he remains Barcelona's top scorer of all time, comfortably surpassing Cesar Rodriguez's previous record of 226 goals.

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Ex-Manchester United man Pique, a long-time team-mate of Messi at Barcelona, believes the Argentine's extensive list of titles is evidence of his focus on leading his former club to victory, rather than outdoing Ronaldo as the greatest player of all time. Speaking to talkSPORT, Pique said: "He wasn't that type of guy."

"He was very team-focused even though he was getting front page headlines in the newspapers. He was very close with all of us and just focused on winning titles like the Champions League. He was the best and he was winning the Ballon d'Or.", reports the Mirror.

"It wasn't something that was a priority for him." The debate over who truly is the Greatest Of All Time in football took on new intensity when Ronaldo transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 for an unprecedented £80million - a world record at the time.

He didn't just make a huge leap professionally but also set LaLiga alight by fiercely competing with Messi for titles and individual honours. Pique claims that the Portuguese star also made the transition from the wing to an out and out striker at the time of his transfer to be the best for Real Madrid.

He added: "But I assumed that he realised that at Real Madrid, if you want to be the best, you have to score a lot of goals." At Old Trafford, both Ronaldo and Pique were nurtured under Fergusons tutelage - with Pique coming through the ranks starting in 2004, while Ronaldo was signed from Sporting CP in 2003.

Ronaldo's tenure at Madrid proved spectacular, notching up 450 goals in 438 games, claiming two La Liga crowns, lifting Copa del Reys, Supercopa de Espanas, and securing four Champions League titles. He moved to Juventus in 2018, but returned to United for a brief spell between 2021 and 2022.

His latest chapter sees him at Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, apparently winding down his football career in Riyadh. Meanwhile, Pique spent four years at Manchester United from 2004 to 2008, prior to his transfer to Barcelona. After a professional career spanning fourteen years with the club, he retired in 2022.

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