It is a never ending rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, one that has left the two players going for years and setting incredible benchmarks.

But it seems Messi has finally been able to get the better of Ronaldo when it comes to earnings and income.

Rightly, the both players have been the sport’s top two highest-paid players since 2014, and in the three years prior, were among the top 3, behind celebrity athlete David Beckham.

For the first time this year, Messi edged out Ronaldo for the No.1 spot (and ranked No.2 among all athletes in the world behind boxer Floyd Mayweather) with earnings of $111 million.

Thanks to a contract extension he signed in November that commits him to Camp Nou through June 2021, he hauled in $84 million in salary and bonus before taxes, a 50% bump over last year.

For perspective, his playing wages alone would rank him just behind former teammate and No. 3 top earner, Neymar, who made $90 million after transferring to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.

For comparison closer to home, his paycheck is twice the combined paychecks of teammates Luis Suarez (no. 7 on our list with $26.9 million total earnings, $19.9 in salary and bonus) and Gerard Pique (no. 17 with $20.8 million total earnings, $17.5 million in salary and bonus).

Read More Below

http://www.goalcountlive.com/messi-overtakes-ronaldo-as-highest-paid-footballer-in-the-world/

After his performance yesterday his salary would surely double..

Ronaldo is busy scoring hat-trick in first match Messi is busy talking about salary

I hope both of them get knocked out in the round of 16 so that we can watch neymar and hazard

like for hazard

share for neymar

bigtt76:
Ronaldo is busy scoring hat-trick in first match Messi is busy talking about salary

At least let Messi play his first match naw.