Why Messi sees Ronaldo every time he looks out of his hotel window

As Lionel Messi prepares for Argentina’s World Cup last 16 clash with France on Saturday, the last thing he will want to think about is Cristiano Ronaldo.

Barcelona legend Messi is constantly being compared to his Real Madrid nemesis Ronaldo for both club and country in arguably football’s more tiresome debate.

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And if Argentina can beat the French and Ronaldo’s Portugal see off Uruguay, that debate will once again reach boiling point as the two could go head-to-head in the quarter-finals.

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But Messi is already in a head-to-head battle with Ronaldo… in Kazan.

The Argentina team are based in the Russian city’s Ramada hotel and the first thing Messi sees when he looks out of his hotel window is… CR7 himself.

Or rather a giant mural of the great man, painted after he stayed at the very same hotel last year as Portugal played in the Confederations Cup.

The huge winking portrait will serve as a constant reminder to Messi that he trails his arch rival in the race for the Golden Boot and has NEVER won an international winner’s medal.