Messi plays down Ronaldo rivalry

Barcelona star Lionel Messi claims he is not obsessed with outperforming Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

The parallels between Messi and Ronaldo has provided an extra spice to the fierce rivalry between the two clubs ever since the Portugal international moved to the Santiago Bernabeu from Manchester United in 2009.

Messi, however, does not believe he is in a personal competition with Ronaldo, and stressed his sole focus is on winning silverware with Barcelona.

“I have no duel with Cristiano Ronaldo,” the Argentina international told reporters. “The only thing I want to do is help my team do things well.”

“I have never watched Cristiano to compare myself with him or to do things better than him.”

The diminutive attacker went on to affirm he is not worried about breaking the club’s all-time goalscoring record, which is owned by Cesar Rodriguez, at 235 goals.

“I want to win titles, because this is what makes us become part of history,” Messi added. “The more goals I score, the better, not to break the record, but to help the team.”

Questioned about Wednesday’s Champions League match against Viktoria Plzen, Messi noted the Czech side must not be taken lightly, despite Barcelona being heavily favoured for the game.

“In the Champions League, there are no easy teams, regardless of where they come from,” he said. “They had a good match against AC Milan, creating chances.”

“We will go out playing as usual, respecting our opponent.”