Ronaldo and Messi redefining Football

With the rivals' respective heroics in Seville and Turin, the pair have again altered our perception of what is humanly possible on a football pitch Cristiano Ronaldo's is a career defined by firsts. He has continually done things that nobody has ever done before. Tuesday night was different, though; special, even for Ronaldo. Against Juventus, the Portuguese superstar scored a goal so spectacular, so beautiful that it prompted a round of applause from the opposition fans. Ronaldo was humbled by the experience. "It was an unbelievable moment," he told UEFA.com. "I have to say thank you, grazie, to all the supporters of Juventus. What they did for me was amazing." What he is doing for football, though, is incredible. There have already been statues sculpted in his honour – albeit some rather unflattering – but he is a living, breathing monument to the power of talent, dedication and belief, the perfect mix of technique and physique, a self-made goal-scoring machine. In short, Ronaldo is a footballing Terminator, an unrelenting "assassin". To paraphrase Kyle Reese's description of the T-800 from the sci-fi classic, CR7 scores goals; that's what he does. That's ALL he does. You can't stop him. You can only applaud him. As Juve's supporters did on Tuesday night - and rightly so. Love him or loathe him, one simply must respect Ronaldo. Everything he has achieved, everything he possesses, he has earned through hard work and single-mindedness. He will stop at nothing to become the best. Once considered a "show pony" even by former Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville, Ronaldo 2.0 is now a streamlined verson of his former self. His view of football a simplistic one: goals win games; thus, by becoming the best goalscorer the game has ever seen, he will become the best player the game has ever seen. Former Real Madrid assistant coach Paul Clement has testified to the fact that Ronaldo is motivated by nothing other than finding the back of the net. "We could win 5-0 and if he hadn’t scored he would be so angry," the Englishman revealed. "I said to him: ‘Cris, enjoy the win: you contributed, you did really well.' He saw his way of contributing, as ‘If I don’t score goals, I’m not contributing. My job is to score goals for the team.'" Clement was also staggered by the fact that after returning from some Champions League games at three in the morning, Ronaldo would not return home but go to the club's training ground for an ice bath to aid his recovery. That professionalism, that commitment to self-preservation, is why he is scoring goals at an unprecedented rate - at 33 years of age. It makes him an inspiration to young and old. Marcus Rashford has revealed that he and his fellow Manchester United youth team players were blown away by Ronaldo's drive and discipline during his time at Old Trafford. "He was the one who everyone looked up to," the striker admitted. "The thing that impressed me the most was the fact he was only young when he came into the side and he wanted to be the best player in the side. "He worked hard every single day, you saw him in the gym every single day and the results came on the pitch. "He openly wanted to be the best player in the world. You have to have an approach like that – all the best players in the world do. It’s not arrogance or anything like that, it’s the mindset you need to achieve things." And he has achieved things that previously seemed impossible. How? By perfecting his body and his game. When he was a teenager at Sporting, then coach Fernando Santos once told him that he was weak in the air. "The following day, he was practicing headers over and over again." There is now no better header of a ball in world footb