The rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi got back underway in Week 3 of the 2014-15 Spanish League season.

During Week 1, Ronaldo added a crucial goal toward helping Real Madrid take down Cordoba, but he was outdone by his Argentine rival, who put together a spectacular performance in Barcelona's opening day victory over Elche. In Week 2, Ronaldo was out injured while Messi continued to help his side take down Villarreal.

Ronaldo reportedly headed into Week 3 at full strength, and it was expected that he would put on a huge performance to help a slumping Madrid. Heading into Saturday's big game against crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid had only won one of its last four. And even that 2-0 victory over Cordoba was far from convincing. There were outcries over the team's poor showing at Real Sociedad prior to the international break and a lot of responsibility was placed on the Portuguese superstar.

He had to deliver.

And he did. But even then, it was not enough to help his woeful side.

Ronaldo got off to a tremendous start against Atletico and essentially ran the offense on his own. Ronaldo is a player that can change games, but he hardly dictates them on his own. When Mesut Ozil was around, the German would be setting up Ronaldo. A year ago, it was Angel Di Maria who was running the show for Real Madrid, and his absence is clearly bringing the entire team down.

On Saturday, it was Ronaldo who decided to run the show with the rest of his team slumping. And for 45 minutes, it brought everyone else's level up. Parked on the right side, Ronaldo was harassing Guillerme Siqueira with his stepovers, speedruns and overall strength. He looked like a man possessed.

He created his penalty by overpowering Siqueira and forcing the defender to foul him inside the box. When it was time to take the penalty, Ronaldo was unfazed by Miguel Angel Moya's attempts to distract him. Instead, he took his penalty calmly and tied the game.

But he did not stop there. Instead of trying to score everything on his own, Ronaldo constantly looked to create. At one point, he ran in from the right and crossed it perfectly for James Rodriguez, who got a poor touch on the ball. Later on, he put a perfect cross in for Karim Benzema that the Frenchman headed and Moya stopped. And then later on he found himself surrounded by three defenders on the left side, but still managed to slip a pass for Benzema. The Frenchman flubbed his touch and wasted a glorious one-on-one with the keeper.

But in the second half, the superstar faded and failed to make much of an impact. It was hardly his fault. The team was passing poorly and rarely finding him on the right flank. He became more and more isolated as the game wore on and his ability to make some magic withered with it.

He finished the game with 82 touches (and made everyone of them count) and had five shots on goal.

Messi entered the week with some solid performances and no more questions about his form. And he made sure it stayed that way. The superstar had just 74 touches in the entire match (the least he's had in Barcelona's first three games), but he also made them all count. He had just two shots on goal and failed to score, but that was no big deal when he was creating them.

Those concerned that Messi and Neymar will be unable to work together were silenced when Messi provided both assists (both of the glorious variety) to his teammate. On the first, Messi got the ball on a counter and found Neymar cutting away on his left. He dished a perfect pass to the Brazilian to put him one-on-one with goalie Gorka Iraizoz.

On the second, Messi got the ball on the right wing and burst up the pitch with tremendous pace. He ran around the defense and just as he reached the endline, he tucked in a pass all the way into the middle of the box where Neymar controlled it and fired it in.

This week is another case of both players living up to their billing, but one simply leading his team to victory and the other watching his side falter. Messi wins Week 3 of the competition and now has a 2-0 lead (Week 2 was not counted since Ronaldo was inactive). Both players have two games this week and will have opportunities to have major impacts on their clubs' fortunes.

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