The pair have dominated the FIFA's player of the year awards since 2008, and are widely considered to be the world's best two footballers.
They have also repeatedly broken each others goal-scoring records both domestically and in Europe.
Barcelona forward Messi, however, insists there are no hard feelings, and no rivalry, between him and his Real Madrid counterpart.
"There is no rivalry," Messi told Shortlist. "It's something the media invented. We both want to do well for our clubs, it is not Messi vs Ronaldo, it never has been."
The Argentine star was also full of praise for Ronaldo's former teammate, Wayne Rooney.
When asked which English players he thought could thrive in La Liga, he highlighted Manchester United's captain.
"If you look at the technical ability of a player like Wayne Rooney, he is as good as any player in Europe," Messi added.
"Rooney has exceptional quality. Not just great technical ability, but also works very hard for his team. I'm sure Manchester United will never want to let him leave, though."
No matter how exceptional Rooney's ability, however, he cannot compare to the feats of Messi and Ronaldo in recent times.
Over the last five years, Messi has averaged 55.8 goals per season for club and country. Ronaldo, meanwhile, has averaged 57.2 over the same period.
Ronaldo has scored, in total, 313 goals for Real Madrid in just 300 games, meaning he is just 10 away from becoming the club's all time top goal scorer.
Messi, however, is already Barcelona's top scorer, having found the net 412 times for the European champions.
Whether or not the two forwards consider themselves to be rivals on a personal level, they are certainly rivals for the annual FIFA world player of the year award (renamed the Ballon d'Or in 2010).
The last player to win other than Messi or Ronaldo was Kaka in 2007, and even then Messi came third.
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