Messi-Ronaldo rivalry in Italy?
Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi, is often compared to Diego Maradona, who is seen as the best player from Argentina and the best player in world football history.
In 1984, Maradona took a chance as he moved from Barcelona to Naples and there he showcased his supreme footballing skills. He won the Serie A title with Napoli in 1987 and 1990 and the UEFA Cup in 1989 - the only big titles in the club's history to this day.
I was not lazy and looked for the position of Maradona's previous and following clubs in 1984 in the UEFA Team Rankings. Barcelona was in 2nd place and Napoli? Can you imagine they shared 83-86 places with Dinamo Moscow, Utrecht and Vejle!
If we look at the 2020 UEFA rankings, we will see that Barcelona is in 3rd place, and AZ Alkmaar and Spartak Moscow are in 83rd place. Is it possible Messi could arrive at these clubs or others that are higher in the ranking - Napoli or Milan, Galatasaray or Qarabağ, etc? The answer is obvious - never! Nowadays, when money decides a lot, even discussing this seems from the realm of fantasy.
Against the background of talk about Messi's departure from Barcelona, Argentina's president Alberto Fernandez has called on the 33-year-old to return to his homeland and end his career with Newell's Old Boys. But if a parting does occur, I personally would like to see Messi at one of the clubs that have not won the league title in their countries for quite some time. For example, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham in England, Inter in Italy, Borussia Dortmund in Germany...
Even signs of fate indicate a move to Inter - Messi never scored in his 4 matches against the Nerazzurri, the most difficult opponent in his football life. If you can't play successfully against them, then you have to play for them!
Although Inter is active in Messi's transfer, he is unlikely to choose the Serie A club. Although after Spain and after a two-season break, it would be interesting again to see the rivalry between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus – now in Italy.
But if Messi leaves Barcelona, in all probability, he will choose Manchester City. They said that in 2008, when the Citizens were purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group, they tried back then to implement his transfer.
Then since 2013, in almost every year, there were rumours about Manchester City's interest in Messi, about their transfer attempts. And since 2016, when Pep Guardiola, his favourite coach, took the manager's position at City, it was clear that a Messi move to England was a matter of time. Perhaps this time has already come.
It was under Guardiola that he was comfortable playing and he was at the peak of his career. The two icons enjoyed more than 200 matches together, most of which were on a winning record. Besides Guardiola in Manchester City, awaiting Messi are also Sergio Agüero and Nicolás Otamendi, his friends from the Argentina national team.
Messi scored 6 goals in 6 matches against Manchester City in the past. Time will tell whether the Argentinian forward will begin to score for the Citizens in the future.
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