Marcelo still laughs when remembering how he first crossed paths with Cristiano Ronaldo. On the Spanish show La Revuelta, the former Real Madrid left-back revealed that he and Ronaldo nearly came to blows in a -Portugal match back in 2009. “My relationship with Cristiano started with a fight in the Brazil-Portugal match. I fouled him because he was too fast,” Marcelo said, recalling when he tried to slow the fleet-footed forward.

Ronaldo didn’t like it. He allegedly elbowed Marcelo, and Marcelo quickly responded with a kick. “He grabbed me by the neck,” Marcelo continued, trying to show how their height difference made the situation even more heated.

The thought of them sharing a locker room at the Santiago Bernabéu seemed impossible. When Marcelo first heard that Real Madrid planned to sign Ronaldo for about $130 million, he worried he’d have to leave. “I thought, ‘I’m leaving Madrid.’ But in the end, everything turned out fine.”

Once the initial tension passed, Marcelo and Ronaldo forged a bond that powered Real Madrid’s left flank through multiple titles. They celebrated together and pushed each other to new levels. “Cristiano thinks he’s the best,” Marcelo said with a grin, recalling their on-field competition. “There was a time when it was annoying because if one scored two goals, the other had to score three. Many people want to compare but forget to enjoy this.”

He didn’t stop there.

From Fighting Ronaldo to Praising Messi

On La Revuelta, Marcelo also spoke about another iconic rival: . “Messi? He’s a phenomenon, just incredible. I tried fouling him, but I couldn’t,” Marcelo admitted, referencing the Argentine’s dribbling skills.

He even joked that Messi sometimes got past him so fast, he had no time to react. Despite Real Madrid’s fierce battles with Barcelona, Marcelo maintains respect for the Argentine.

When pressed on who he considers the greatest player ever, Marcelo chose not to pick just one. “There’s no ‘best in history.’ We were lucky to play at the same time as Cristiano and Messi. There was a period when those two were absolutely insane—if one scored two, the other scored three. We saw this live, and we enjoyed it very much.”

For Marcelo, the focus is on savoring the brilliance that both superstars brought to the pitch. It’s a perspective shaped by firsthand experience, from that explosive introduction to Ronaldo in 2008 to numerous El Clásico showdowns against Messi.

His words offer a reminder that sometimes, the best approach to greatness is simply to admire it, even when it begins with a tense confrontation.