Cristiano Ronaldo Could Have Been Lionel Messi's Teammate At Barcelona: Report

Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly wanted Cristiano Ronaldo to join FC Barcelona and not Real Madrid when the star striker had decided to leave Manchester United in 2009.

Despite all the efforts from the legendary manager, Real signed the Portuguese forward, breaking the then transfer record by paying $99 million.

Real and Man Utd have had a poor relationship in regard to the transfers. One could say, it all began in 2008 when the Spanish giants had approached Man Utd in talks about signing Ronaldo. “Do you think I would get into a contract with that mob. Jesus Christ, no chance. I wouldn’t sell them a virus,” he was quoted in an interview.

Back in 2008, Barcelona were ahead of their arch-rivals having won two titles in the last three seasons. Real were desperate to close in the gap and they had begun to work towards it by acquiring services of Xavi Alonso and Kaka before but were left to fill in one final spot, which they thought Ronaldo could fit in well and strengthen the squad.

Ferguson, in order to prevent Ronaldo from heading to Bernabeu, even offered him to Barcelona, which was managed by Pep Guardiola then. According to a report in Spanish newspaper AS, Ferguson did everything possible to guide Ronaldo to Nou Camp but the Portuguese had made up his mind about signing for Real.

Had Ronaldo joined Barcelona, the soccer would have witnessed soccer geniuses such as Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry as teammates of the same club.

While that did not happen, Ronaldo and Messi’s rivalry of years has always brought the best out of the two.

Ronaldo spent nine long years with Real, where he netted 451 goals having made 438 appearances for the club across competitions. After winning his maiden Champions League with Man Utd, Ronaldo went on to win the prestigious European trophy four more times with Real. During his stint with the Spanish giants, he even lifted five Ballon d’Or awards but was recently pipped by Messi, who clinched a record sixth trophy earlier this year.

Ahead of the 2018-19 season, Ronaldo brought an end to his glorious chapter in La Liga and moved to Italy's "Old Lady," Juventus.