Cristiano Ronaldo reached out to Lionel Messi this week in the gentlest way two rivals-turned-elder-statesmen of the game know how: a short comment left under his old adversary's own words of grief. According to ONE, Ronaldo wrote beneath Messi's Instagram farewell to his father, Jorge: "A huge hug for you and all your loved ones in this difficult moment, Leo. Stay strong," followed by a heart emoji.
The comment came days after Jorge Messi, who had been both father and long-serving agent to the Inter Miami forward, died on Saturday in a hospital in Rosario at the age of 68. Newell's Old Boys, the club with deep roots in the Messi family's story, said he had been undergoing treatment for an unspecified illness in the months before his death.
Messi and his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, travelled with their three sons to Rosario for a private funeral before the forward posted an emotional tribute to his father on Instagram.
"Dad, I still can't believe that you've gone," Messi wrote. "I don't fall, or rather, I don't want to fall. It's very hard for me to imagine that I'm not going to see you anymore, that we're not going to talk anymore. I know you were suffering and that it's for the best, but you left too soon. We still had a lot left to enjoy together."
He went on to describe how his father had pushed him to play at this year's World Cup despite his declining health, and how he had waited for Jorge's message after every match, growing more worried as the tournament went on and the messages slowed.
It was under that post that Ronaldo's comment appeared, cited by ONE and separately reported by the US-based outlet Bolavip, which published a screenshot of the exchange. The gesture drew tens of thousands of likes and replies from fans on both sides of football's longest-running individual rivalry.
Real Madrid, where Ronaldo built much of his legend, were among the clubs and federations to issue formal condolences to the Messi family last week, a reminder of how far the news travelled beyond Barcelona and Argentina.
Ronaldo and Messi built two of the most decorated careers the sport has seen while pushing each other for the best part of two decades, from the Clásico years in Spain through separate paths at Juventus, Al-Nassr, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami. Their public exchanges have grown warmer since both moved past their head-to-head prime, each crediting the other for raising his own game.
It is worth noting that this comment, as documented by ONE and Bolavip, is distinct from several other claims about Ronaldo's reaction that spread on social media this week, including of a phone call between the two men — none of which has been confirmed by either player's camp, by any club, or by any federation.
