Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi Hug Before Portugal, Argentina Match To Put Bad Blood Behind Them

Cristiano Ronaldo shared a warm embrace with Lionel Messi before Portugal played Argentina at Old Trafford in Manchester on Tuesday.

The Real Madrid forward and the Barcelona striker both captained their sides in the encounter. When they stood alongside each other in the tunnel, the duo shook each other’s hands before then briefly patting each other on the back.

You can check out a Vine of the pair’s greeting below.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi share a moment in the tunnel ahead of #ARGvsPOR https://t.co/2IGB8HMRjC

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) November 18, 2014

You can also watch an entire clip of the duo shaking hands after the national anthems had been completed and then doing so once again once they’d decided who would kick-off below, too.

In fact, according to the Daily Mail, another photo has emerged of the pair allegedly sharing a joke on the pitch during the encounter. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both have their hands over their mouths but they clearly make a comment to one another. They can then be seen smiling and laughing as they depart too.

In the end, the two soccer superstars only played the first half of the match. Portugal ended up winning the game by one goal to nil thanks to an injury-time winner from Raphael Guerreiro.

This was the 27th time that Messi and Ronaldo had come up against one another on the pitch. Argentina and Barcelona’s Messi has now won on 12 occasions while this was only Ronaldo’s eighth victory against his adversary while playing for Portugal, Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are both widely regarded as the best soccer players of their generation. However, despite the fact that the pair obviously share a deep respect and adulation for the other individual’s talents, it has previously been speculated that they aren’t on friendly terms.

Earlier this month it was even suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo had a vulgar nickname for Lionel Messi that he only shared with his Real Madrid colleagues. However, the Portuguese forward quickly came out and denied that this was the case, writing the following response on his Facebook page.

“News is circulating that I allegedly made offending remarks regarding Lionel Messi. This is absolutely false and I have assured my lawyer takes action to sue those responsible. I have the utmost respect for all my professional colleagues, and Messi is obviously no exception.”

[Image via Abrilm]