Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have had contrasting opening World Cup fixtures for Portugal and Argentina and now Patrice Evra has had his say on the rivalry.
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Cristiano Ronaldo produced one his most iconic individual performances during a blockbuster 3-3 draw vs Spain with the Portugal captain registering a superb hat-trick.
Ronaldo finished the night with a last minute free-kick to top off an astonishing opening 90 minutes for the Real Madrid star in Russia.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi experienced an adversely different opening World Cup fixture as Argentina were held to a 1-1 draw to European underdogs Iceland in a bitterly disappointing result for the South American giants.
Messi had plenty of opportunities to register his opening World Cup goal for the summer and even had a second-half penalty saved.
While Ronaldo’s last minute free-kick was the headline of his performance on Friday night it was perhaps his opening effort that shows the contract in characters between himself and Messi.
Ronaldo won a penalty in the opening minutes of the Portugal vs Spain clash after drawing a foul from Real Madrid teammate Nacho and comfortably converted the subsequent spot-kick.
Patrice Evra played with Ronaldo during his time at Manchester United and has expressed that the way in which Messi and CR7 handle intense pressure shows a difference in quality and a superiority towards Ronaldo while working as a pundit on ITV today.
“I just feel like Ronaldo enjoys the pressure more than Messi. I think Messi just gets frustrated, but Ronaldo just loves it.” (Comments per the Mirror)