--- title: Cristiano Ronaldo's Son Starstruck by Lionel Messi: Video description: FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi meets fellow soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's young son, who is starstruck by his father's rival. canonical: https://time.com/3667429/cristiano-ronaldo-son-meets-lionel-messi/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T17:56:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:15:56.942Z og:title: Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's Son Get Totally Starstruck Meeting His Dad's Rival Lionel Messi og:description: A brief but beautiful moment og:url: https://time.com/3667429/cristiano-ronaldo-son-meets-lionel-messi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c5884d18fcd527d/69869b2413c79f6259193021/argentina-lionel-messi.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Argentina's Lionel Messi reacts during a semifinal match between Netherlands and Argentina of 2014 FIFA World Cup at the Arena de Sao Paulo Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 9, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's Son Get Totally Starstruck Meeting His Dad's Rival Lionel Messi twitter:description: A brief but beautiful moment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c5884d18fcd527d/69869b2413c79f6259193021/argentina-lionel-messi.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's Son Get Totally Starstruck Meeting His Dad's Rival Lionel Messi by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jan 14, 2015 5:56 PM UTC  Argentina's Lionel Messi reacts during a semifinal match between Netherlands and Argentina of 2014 FIFA World Cup at the Arena de Sao Paulo Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 9, 2014. Argentina's Lionel Messi reacts during a semifinal match between Netherlands and Argentina of 2014 FIFA World Cup at the Arena de Sao Paulo Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 9, 2014.Wang Lili—Xinhua/Sipa by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jan 14, 2015 5:56 PM UTC Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the world’s two biggest soccer stars, known even to people who otherwise know nothing about the sport. Most fans are either solidly pro-Messi, who plays for FC Barcelona, or pro-Ronaldo, who plays for the rival Real Madrid. But Ronaldo’s young son, it turns out, is a fan of _both_ players. This video shows Cristiano Jr. meeting Messi at FIFA’s annual [Ballon d’Or](http://time.com/3664351/cristiano-ronaldo-fifa-ballon-dor-soccer/) gala. Ronaldo tells his fellow superstar that the boy watches video of them playing and then talks about Messi, [according to](http://www.marca.com/en/2015/01/13/en/football/real%5Fmadrid/1421186453.html) a translation from _La Marca_. It’s a quick interaction, but the boy is clearly starstruck in the presence of a player he admires — and it’s like the whole rivalry, for just one moment, doesn’t even matter. _Read next:_ [_VH1 Is About to Air 40 Years’ Worth of Saturday Night Live Episodes_](http://time.com/3667994/vh1-saturday-night-live-marathon-40-years/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3667429/cristiano-ronaldo-son-meets-lionel-messi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3667429/cristiano-ronaldo-son-meets-lionel-messi/"},"headline":"Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's Son Get Totally Starstruck Meeting His Dad's Rival Lionel Messi","datePublished":"2015-01-14T17:56:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:56.942Z","description":"A brief but beautiful moment","url":"https://time.com/3667429/cristiano-ronaldo-son-meets-lionel-messi/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Sports topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c5884d18fcd527d/69869b2413c79f6259193021/argentina-lionel-messi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c5884d18fcd527d/69869b2413c79f6259193021/argentina-lionel-messi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Argentina's Lionel Messi reacts during a semifinal match between Netherlands and Argentina of 2014 FIFA World Cup at the Arena de Sao Paulo Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 9, 2014.","caption":"Argentina's Lionel Messi reacts during a semifinal match between Netherlands and Argentina of 2014 FIFA World Cup at the Arena de Sao Paulo Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 9, 2014.","creditText":"Wang Lili—Xinhua/Sipa","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3667429/cristiano-ronaldo-son-meets-lionel-messi/","name":"Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's Son Get Totally Starstruck Meeting His Dad's Rival Lionel Messi"}}]}] ```