During Cristiano Ronaldo's recent interview with the Italian press, questions about Lionel Messi were simply inevitable.
The two superstars have been regularly compared throughout their careers and despite neither of them winning the most recent Ballon d'Or, they're widely considered the top two in the world.
And for almost a decade, football fans had the treat of watching both players lock horns on an annual basis in La Liga with Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
That all changed this summer, though, when Ronaldo sought pastures new and signed for Juventus in a quest to win the Champions League with a third club.
However, it means that regular Ronaldo vs Messi battles simply aren't the case anymore and the Italian press wanted to quiz him about that as a result.
Ronaldo challenges Messi
His answer didn't disappoint. Per the BBC, the Portuguese remarked: "I've played in England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and for my national team, while he's still in Spain.
"Maybe he needs me more. For me, life is a challenge, I like it and I like to make people happy.
"I hope he accepts the challenge like me, but if he's happy there then I respect that."
Messi against Italian teams
And it really begs the question: how would Messi perform if he moved to Serie A.
It's unlikely that the Argentina will Barcelona for anybody barring Newell's Old Boys, but there are still methods of evaluating how Messi would perform in Italian football.
One of them comes in the form of his past performances against Serie A teams and a number of videos across YouTube, including one from Barcelona themselves, make the situation very clear.
That considered, take a look at some of the clips below and just enjoy the brilliance from Messi:
AC Milan, Juventus, AS Roma and more have all felt Messi's wrath.
There's minutes upon minutes of footage showing Messi dribbling past the defences with ease, breaking them down with passes and scoring a hatful of goals.
Although there's no comprehensive way of forecasting Messi in Serie A, it goes to show that he has the beating of their teams and that's even the case when you forget the Barcelona players around him.
His current record stands at 12 goals in 19 matches, not bad when they're always coming against the country's best teams and at Champions League level.
As previously mentioned, though, Messi's allegiance to Barcelona is too strong to imagine him accepting Ronaldo's offer.
Football fans will just have to hope that Barcelona and Juventus are drawn against one another as much as possible in years to come.
But in the lucrative scenario that Messi did play in Serie A, goals would be guaranteed.
How do you think Messi would perform in Italian football? Have your say in the comments section below.