Former Barcelona great David Villa feels that a possible matchup in La Liga between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland cannot compare to the legendary rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Villa’s remarks coincided with rumors that Barcelona was in negotiations for a potential transfer with Haaland’s representative.
After years of being connected to Real Madrid, Mbappe eventually moved from Saint-Germain (PSG) to the Bernabeu in the summer of 2024. As for Erling Haaland, he has been shattering key scoring records since leaving Borussia Dortmund to join Manchester City in the summer of 2022.
In an interview with the media, David Villa discussed the possible competition between Mbappe and Haaland, saying that it would be amazing to see Erling Haaland take on Kylian Mbappe in La Liga. I hope to see Haaland here. Although I doubt they’ll be as successful as Messi and Cristiano, it would still be fantastic for the league.”
The rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo peaked when they were both players for Barcelona and Real Madrid, their bitter rivals, in 2009 and 2018, respectively. Ronaldo won four trophies during this time, while the Blaugrana legend won three UEFA Champions Leagues. But Messo’s seven La Liga championships were greater than the Portuguese forward’s two league wins.
Nevertheless, throughout this period, both legends continued to be essential to their teams’ success and continue to rank as their respective clubs’ top scorers to this day.
Ronaldo moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018, and the Argentina national team moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2021. While Messi plays for Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer, the former piles trades in Saudi Arabia at the moment.