Lionel Messi’s goal at the CONCACAF Champions Cup, just seconds after the Nashville audience chanted Ronaldo’s name, became a viral video.
In the 52nd minute, when Inter Miami was led 2-0 in the first leg of the 1/8 round of the tournament considered the North Central America C1 Cup on March 8, the Nashville Club audience in the area behind the home team’s goal began to chant. echo: “Ronaldo, Ronaldo”.
A spectator in this area held a phone and filmed Messi while he was walking, not reacting to the chants. But only about 10 seconds later, he ran to the front of the penalty area, received the ball, pushed it once and curled it into the left corner from 18 meters away.
The Nashville audience was silent, save for chants from Messi and Inter Miami fans. A home fan also held his head and opened his mouth in surprise. The video of this moment was posted on social networks by an audience in the past few days, attracting tens of millions of views across platforms.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw, when Luis Suarez scored a header in the last minute for Inter Miami. In the return match on March 14, Messi and Suarez continued to score, helping the home team win 3-1 against Nashville. Inter Miami won 5-3 in the end, entering the quarterfinals in their first tournament appearance, meeting Monterrey (Mexico).
It’s unclear if the Nashville audience is referring to “Alien” Ronaldo Nazario or superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. But most likely what they mean is the Portuguese captain – the player playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. Because recently, Ronaldo has also been under a lot of pressure when Middle Eastern audiences chanted Messi’s name. At times, he responded with offensive behavior, leading to a one-match suspension.
Ronaldo holds the record for scoring the most goals of all time, with 879 goals in 1,212 matches. Meanwhile, Messi ranks second with 826 goals in 1,052 matches. Some Argentinian newspapers often publish articles with headlines like “How many goals is Messi less than Ronaldo’s record”, after each match of the Inter Miami captain. Ronaldo is 53 goals ahead of Messi in all competitions. But if not counting the goals for Al Nassr and Inter Miami, Ronaldo is only 19 goals better than Messi.
Messi holds the record of winning eight Golden Balls, while Ronaldo is behind with five awards. The chance for the Al Nassr captain to equal Messi’s achievements is almost gone, when he is 39 years old.
