the most absurd of all the arguments. "he challenged himself. and he was successful at it too." as if messi was unsuccessful. 10 seasons in la liga, 2 titles. 7 barca, 1 atletico. there's cl success. real madrid won it 2 more times after ronaldo left. ronaldo didn't win anything. he went to a juventus that had been champion 7 seasons in a row in italy and that played a cl final and a semifinal the following year. is this challenging yourself? juventus, who played a cl final, got knocked out in the round of 16 twice while ronaldo was there. the first year to ajax, the second year to porto. the argument they call "challenging himself" is hollow. it's not substantial. as a matter of fact, in 2019 and 2020 they were champions, juve's 9th in a row, and what a coincidence that in the 10th season, the first season in a long time they failed to be champions for the first time, ronaldo was on the team. so for you, is challenging yourself going to a team that's been champion 7 times and experiencing the 8th and 9th titles, then failing to win the title in the 10th season? what ibrahimovic did, making milan, who hadn't been champions in 11 years, champions at 38 years old, that's challenging yourself, for example. not what ronaldo did :d at the start of 2021-2022 he returned to united. the media made up some story that man city wanted him and everyone believed it :d why would pep want ronaldo at that city, for example. a year later they got haaland. the premier league that united finished 2nd in before he came, they finished 6th after he came. while they were competing in the champions league, they joined the europa league. he achieved no success with the united shirt in his second stint, neither in the league nor in europe. but his going to united also comes up before us as a "challenging himself" argument. in portugal, since 2020 he has been nothing but, and only, a burden to his team. because of his unbelievable lobbying and his diva-like tantrums, 10 guys are suffering for his sake on the national team. because they can't produce one decent forward, portugal is forced to put up with this, but for 6 years he hasn't done a single rational thing in the national shirt besides taking penalties. now when and where did this guy ever challenge himself? what is he able to do that messi wasn't able to do? without there even being any need to write all this nonsense, it's impossible for someone whose brain works, whose eyes see, and who knows football to watch both of them and claim that ronaldo is better. if they claim it, either their brain isn't working, or their eyes aren't seeing, or they don't understand football. the matter is this simple.