It was another eventful week for Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi with the latter participating in two more matches on the week against the single one by his great rival.
Lionel Messi was crowned the Ballon d'Or winner this past Monday before embarking on two straight games to help retain his crown and help his team to be its best. Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile got back to work, looking to ward off a slow start to 2016.
Lionel Messi won his first Ballon d'Or, cementing himself as the only player to win as many individual awards. He had already made the record books with his fourth win back in 2012, but Cristiano Ronaldo had crept within one with two straight wins in 2013 and 2014. However, that mountain will be harder to climb now for the Portuguese player who is seemingly starting his decline.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had to big games this weekend with each having major points to prove. Messi was looking to continue his top form while Ronaldo sought to get back on the goalscoring column.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were back to work in two separate games this week - one in the Champions League and another in the Spanish league.
Both players faced rather unimportant Champions League tilts but had crucial fixtures in Spain to resolve.
It was a horrid week for the two most renowned superstars in the world. While Robert Lewandowski finished his week with seven goals in two games, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued looking to add to their goal totals but only continued to find inconsistency.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi having finally arrived after struggling through the opening few weeks of the season. Both superstars got two chances to prove their mettle in week four of the 2015-16 season - once in the Champions League and a second time in the Spanish league. Both stars faced challenging UCL matches and "easy" Liga games and wound up with contrasting results in both games.
Which superstar was the winner of week 4?
Something unexpected happened this weekend. For the first time in history, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score goals in two consecutive league games.
The Champions League draw is just a few days away and there are a number of teams that look like big favorites for the title. Which side is the runaway contender?
The Messi Ronaldo rivalry is always one of the highlights of the soccer season. For years the two titans have come at one another from a distance. Goals and titles were always their main means of doing battle. For years, Lionel Messi was the undisputed winner in both areas, but of late he has lagged a bit in the former department despite being the runaway winner in the latter.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi will compete for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. In theory at least. Despite the three players being officially on the ballet, the reality is that only one player has any chance of winning the award this year.
His name? Lionel Messi.
Here is the rundown for why the Argentine is the frontrunner to win the award.
Barcelona earned its fourth trophy of 2015 by defeating Sevilla 5-4 in the UEFA Super Cup. The game was rugged affair with three goals in the opening 20 minutes and a 4-1 lead for Blaugrana before the hour mark. However, Sevilla stormed back, forced extra time but was struck by fate of the most ironic kind.
Here are the major takeaways from the big game.