Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 36th birthday this week.

It's astonishing to think that the Juventus star is still contending for the European Golden Shoe and Ballon d'Or now that he's approaching his 40th birthday but to Ronaldo, age is just a number.

And with the Portuguese showing no signs of stopping with a fantastic third season in Turin, already boasting 22 goals in 23 games, there's no reason to think that father time is catching up with him.

Ronaldo vs Messi debate

Now, that is nothing but a good thing for football fans like ourselves who enjoy basking in Ronaldo's brilliance, but there's at least one area in which the 36-year-old might be annoyed as he continues.

That's because, of course, Ronaldo can only ever go so long without being compared to his eternal rival Lionel Messi and yes, we're guilty as charged when it comes to indulging in it.

But such is the uniqueness of having arguably the two greatest footballers in history inhabiting the same era, as well as the same league for nine years, that it's ultimately pretty natural.

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Ronaldo vs Messi Twitter threads

And as a result, seldom does a week go by where Ronaldo and Messi aren't pitted against each other in formats ranging from data analyses to FIFA 21 simulations and everything in between.

However, today we're turning to one of the most frequented mediums: Twitter threads.

That's right, we've all been scrolling through our Twitter feeds and come across a new take on the Ronaldo and Messi debate, complete with detailed statistics and thousands of retweets in tow.

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Is Ronaldo obsessed with Messi?

But bear with us for a second because the latest addition in a long line of Ronaldo vs Messi Twitter threads, courtesy of @CrewsMat19, is certainly one of the most unique entries we've ever seen.

That's because they're less interested in the well-trodden path of statistical comparisons and are instead trying to highlight that, well, Ronaldo is a little bit obsessed when it comes to Messi.

Now, give or take the odd, relaxed transcription, the quotes are indeed accurate, so be sure to check out the thread below to see if you think Ronaldo really does have an 'inferiority complex'.

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Woof, to be fair, consuming all those Ronaldo quotes in one go would certainly have you believe that he frantically compared his statistics to Messi every night on his laptop.

An 'inferiority complex'?

But it's important to remember that many of these comments took place years apart and I certainly think we can forgive Ronaldo for getting frustrated with the constant comparisons at times.

Then again, while Messi hasn't exactly batted away every Ronaldo question that's ever come his way, we'd be lying if we said he answered them with the same fervor and bite of his rival.

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But does Ronaldo have a dartboard with Messi's face pinned to the bullseye and think he's less of a man because of the Barcelona star? Yeh, that's a big fat 'no' from us.