November 19, 2022—the day the internet broke, not only in the soccer fraternity but across the entire sporting world, thanks to a monumental photo that garnered over 70 million likes on Instagram. To remind y’all, it was a picture of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo sitting across from each other, intensely focused on a game of chess being played on a Louis Vuitton briefcase. What seemed like an unexpected and classy off-pitch reunion was later revealed to be a carefully edited image for an ad campaign.

Disappointing, right? But it also highlights the power of a brand to unite two of the most sought-after athletes in the history of the beautiful game in a single frame. Beyond that, it underscores the enduring influence of these two icons. Admit it, even now, seeing the picture catches everyone off guard. So, did LV leverage either of these undisputed GOATs purely for views, marketing, or some other end goal?

While that’s for LV to know, it brings up another issue on the table. Earlier CR7 launched his official YouTube channel which surely became a sensation in the YouTube world. Though this isn’t a time to dig deeper into numbers, the commotion came after the Portuguese superstar was recently accused of taking views in the name of Messi. As it continues to become a wild debate, Alexis Ohanian has a subtle and off-topic response that may extinguish the heat among the split crowd.

In his recent appearance on Thanasis Antetokounmpo-hosted Thanalysis Show podcast, he discussed the power of athletes beyond the game to become an influential figure. “We’re gonna see a generation of athletes,” he began. “They think this way because they know their job is bigger than just the sport, and they know how much power they have. They’re not just thinking about working their a**es off to become pros and become the best.” So what else do they have in mind other than bossing in their sport?

“They’re also thinking about building the media empire, doing the brand deals in much smarter ways, about doing investing while they’re still playing, while they’re still active, because they’re building something much bigger,” concluded Ohanian. To make this more understandable, he cited an example of Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami.

However, the main point comes to be the kind of power a certain kind of athlete holds. Yet, such words from Alexis Ohanian won’t easily budge the fans to stop accusing Ronaldo of leveraging on Messi’s name. Hear a few of them by yourself.

Cristiano Ronaldo splits the soccer world with his Lionel Messi-baity tactics on his YouTube Channel

The first evidence comes to be an F1-themed graphic that places Cristiano Ronaldo above Lionel Messi. In the picture, it can be seen that the 39-year-old is comparing his all-time goal tallies with his long-term arch-rival.

The next evidence is rather a thumbnail issue, where Ronaldo’s puppet head can be seen driving the F1 cars ahead of Messi, and Robert Lewandowski and the title of the video goes, “The craziest race of Cristiano Ronaldo on his CR7 racing car.”

Everyone knows how things unfold when it comes to the Messi-Ronaldo debate. This fan vocally alleges that the Real Madrid icon purely did this to attract more views, audience, and whatnot in the name of his ex-Barcelona rival.

Is Ronaldo really riding on Messi’s coattails? Since the launch of his YT channel, we have mostly seen the Al Nassr star post content revolving around his life. We are not implying that using such tactics is wrong but it’s also quite unexpected to this as well.

One has the most Ballon d’Or, and the other has the most Champions League titles—Messi and Ronaldo’s achievements are like apples and oranges and it makes them unique in their own way. Yet, many fail to understand that this healthy obsession of competing against each other is normal.

It’s not like things are mostly hateful from Messi fans. Even Ronaldo fans have gone down that road. If the players have never admitted any kind of enmity with each other, so shouldn’t the supporters. Yet, the hostility remains within the supporters.

Once again, fans are questioning the integrity of Ronaldo doing such a publicity stunt. We know Messi would hardly ever make a comment on this and neither it would affect him. On top of that, it must be Ronaldo’s way of doing something different and maybe he doesn’t mean it. Regardless, it’s too late as the hatred continues.

Be that as it may, one thing is certain despite all the hateful comments: neither Cristiano Ronaldo owes any explanation, nor does Lionel Messi have any role in helping his former rival’s YouTube channel grow—exactly as Alexis Ohanian’s subtle explanation suggests. Regardless, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments as well.