Lionel Messi’s focus was on winning titles at Barcelona rather than becoming embroiled in a head-to-head with long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, Ronaldo deliberately moved into a centre-forward role at Real Madrid to try and become the best.
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Pique claims Messi’s focus was on the collective and bringing the Champions League trophy to BarcelonaCredit: AFP
That’s according to former teammate Gerard Pique, who spent the bulk of his career playing alongside Messi at the Nou Camp.
Messi and Ronaldo spearheaded European football for a glittering 15-year period, which saw the duo trade Ballon d’Or victories for ten successive years.
Never has football been dominated so fiercely by two stars who saw a competitive edge quickly turn into a rivalry sparked by their allegiances on each side of the El Clasico divide.
Pique, a former teammate of Ronaldo at Manchester United, spoke highly of his time playing alongside both players during an appearance on talkSPORT.
The Spaniard was asked whether Messi would pay close attention to the Portuguese star’s weekly heroics in hope of grabbing the headlines at Ronaldo’s expense.
“He wasn’t that type of guy,” Pique told talkSPORT. “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.
“It wasn’t something that was a priority for him.”
On the other hand, Pique claimed Ronaldo made a key change in his game following his blockbuster £80m switch to the Santiago Bernabeu.
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Pique lifted the lid on Messi and Ronaldo’s time in La Liga
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Messi was Barcelona’s leader whilst Pique was at the heart of the club’s defenceCredit: Getty
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Ronaldo’s took his goalscoring to another dimension after arriving in MadridCredit: Getty
Ronaldo was primarily deployed as a winger under Sir Alex Ferguson but an incredible appetite for scoring goals became evident during his final season at Old Trafford, which continued during his time in La Liga.
“He started as a winger at Manchester United, he was very skillfull then when he moved to Madrid he started to become a goalscorer, like a pure No.9,” Pique added.
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“At Manchester United when I played with him, he loved to do tricks and he was very skillfull.
“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.”
Pique joined Drive on Wednesday to discuss his groundbreaking seven-a-side football concept: ‘Kings League’.
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