Messi VS Ronaldo

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will finally meet in an international for the first time when Argentina face Portugal on Wednesday.

Long-time club rivals in the Champions League and Spain, the gifted forwards have never come up against each other on national team duty, with the friendly in neutral Switzerland their countries' first meeting in almost 40 years.

The historic clash arrives with Barcelona's Messi and Real Madrid's Ronaldo locked at the top of the Spanish scoring chart with 24 league goals each.
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Portugal coach Paulo Bento downplayed talk of a personal duel between the two most recent winners of FIFA's world player award.

"As far as I'm concerned this is Portugal against Argentina," Bento said.

"It's not about individual rivalry. I doubt whether Ronaldo or Messi see it that way, either."

The last time Ronaldo shared a pitch with Messi, Madrid slumped to a 5-0 defeat against an inspired Barcelona team in November.

Messi's mesmerising play for the Spanish champions helped ensure last month the 23-year-old Argentine lifted the FIFA Ballon d'Or trophy after being named the best in the world for a second straight year.

Ronaldo had previously had the edge in their rivalry, receiving the FIFA honour in 2008 when Messi was runner-up.

That prize rewarded a 42-goal season leading Manchester United to the Champions League title, including beating Barcelona in the semi-finals.

Messi struck back by starring, and scoring, in the 2009 final that was Ronaldo's last match for Man United before moving to Madrid.

Organisers of Wednesday's match say at least 85 countries will broadcast the match live and the two main attractions warmed to their task at the weekend.

Ronaldo, who turned 26 on Saturday, scored twice in Madrid's 4-1 win over Real Sociedad, and Messi hit all three goals in the 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid to extend Barcelona's league winning streak to 16.

Messi also scored in Argentina's last match, a 1-0 victory against Brazil in a November 17 friendly played at Doha, Qatar.