In the everlasting debate between the two footballing sensations Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the entire footballing fanbase, for almost 20 years, has been divided into two parts.
Recently, the current Al-Nassr superstar invested in an AI (Artificial Intelligence) powered search-engine called ‘Perplexity AI’. Having become an investor and global partner, as part of the deal, the AI company launched a Perplexity x CR7 – Ronaldo Hub, a special interactive segment for the Portuguese international’s fans.
Their partnership’s introduction was done by an ad-campaign which featured two children having a football related debate. The ad itself opens with one of the children saying, “Dude, I can’t believe you’re even comparing him to that guy”, to which the other kid replied, “He did win a World Cup tho..”.
Winners never stop learning. Never stop asking. @perplexity_ai #Ad pic.twitter.com/oDAQcUdSbZ
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) December 4, 2025
The person who’s being compared to Ronaldo is in fact, his counterpart in this debate, Lionel Messi. It didn’t take fans more than one look at the opening scene of the campaign, which was posted on Ronaldo’s own account across his social media profiles, where he has almost 1 Billion accumulated followers.
As far as we know, the ad campaign wasn’t written by Ronaldo or his team, however, it is a very cheap and unnecessary dig at another player who has absolutely nothing to do with this ad or the company in question. The ad begins with a low blow, trying to unwarrantedly devalue the FIFA World Cup won by Messi and the Argentina national team in 2022.
It shows his insecurity and obsession with Messi and he doesn't even mentions Messi's name in the ad. He should have asked Perplexity who the goat is! pic.twitter.com/rJwr0MCEJP
— Color Me Mozart (@ColorMeMozart) December 5, 2025
The ad strategically promotes Ronaldo’s mission to reach 1000 career goals and makes it to be a bigger feat than winning a World Cup title. Although it might be right in the eyes of the uninitiated, fans called him out on the never-ending obsession about the debate. The Portuguese star, recently in an interview with the infamous English broadcaster and journalist, Piers Morgan, refused to be humble when asked if Messi is better than him or not. “Messi better than me? I don’t agree … I don’t want to be humble”.
Despite Argentina’s 2022 triumph in Qatar, the debate kept on going with both parties continuing to defend their ideologies. The victory over France in the final, which is notably regarded as the greatest football match ever played, along with Argentina’s entire run, has been numerously devalued and deemed to be a ‘rigged’ tournament by their rival counterparts.
In hindsight, any and every football fan is allowed to feel however they want, however, the ad still comes in with bad spirit in what are the final playing years of inarguably the two greatest players to ever grace the game.
Both players, along with their respective national teams, have their eyes set on the upcoming summer for the FIFA World Cup in North America, which could be the very last time we see the two potentially share the pitch together on the biggest stage possible.
Who do you think will have a better run in the 2026 World Cup, Argentina or Portugal? Let us know in the comments down below.
