A few days ago, FIFA President Sepp Blatter figured that he would end the debate over Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by declaring himself partisan to the Argentinean. His mocking gestures of Ronaldo spurred tremendous controversy, but the damage had been done. Ronaldo had been picked apart by arguably the most powerful person in world soccer.
But the Portuguese superstar would have the final word and his rival would make Blatter look silly in this past week.
Can anyone guess how many goals Lionel Messi scored in the month of October? Those who have not been following closely may be thinking that it has to be about five or six. After all, he is the best player in the world. How about this for an answer? Just one goal. When? A few weeks ago against AC Milan in the Champions League.
This means that Messi was a virtual non-entity for Barcelona in its two victories this past week. Cesc Fabregas had a brace in a 3-0 win over Celta Vigo while Alexis Sanchez scored the lone goal in a derby win over Espanyol. Messi had 15 shots total over the two games but had nothing to show for it in the goals or assists column.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo struck back at both Blatter and Messi with a tremendous week. He potted three goals in a 7-3 win over Seville on Wednesday and then scored a brace in Madrid's 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano. He also scored the game winner in both of them.
Ronaldo has five more goals than Messi in the Spanish League this season and he also leads the Barcelona man by three goals in the Champions League.
Messi is capable of a turnaround but it is becoming pretty clear which of the two has had the better start and overall year.
Winner: Five goals to none. If Messi's November is the same as his production in October, then there will be no doubt which player takes over the mantle of Best Player in the World by the time the calendar reaches 2014. Ronaldo now leads the 2013-14 competition 5-3; this does not include the weeks in which Messi was absent with an injury. If those weeks were counted, then Ronaldo's lead would be significantly higher.
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