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The definitive account of the world-shaping rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and their ongoing competition to be the greatest football player of all time.

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A Financial Times Sports Books of the Year 2018

Cristiano and Leo is the fascinating account of the lives and rivalry between two of the best footballers to ever play the game, Ronaldo and Messi by Jimmy Burns, the bestselling author of Maradona: The Hand of God.

The rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi has defined football to a generation of fans - everyone has an opinion on who is the greatest.

Do you prefer Ronaldo whose work ethic and physique have been honed for one purpose - scoring goals. Or Messi, whose superhuman natural talent means he can do the seemingly impossible with a football.

Between them they have scored over 1300 goals, won the Ballon d´Or ten times, and taken the beautiful game to even greater heights. But statistics alone cannot do justice to their skill, athleticism and dedication to stay at the top for so long of one of the most competitive sports in the world.

Cristiano and Leo tells their definitive story, from children kicking a ball halfway around the world from each other to facing each other in the epic clash El Clásico, between Real Madrid and Barcelona. This is the essential book to understand one the most compelling rivalries in sporting history.

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A thoroughly researched dual biography by the great Jimmy Burns. Simon Kuper , author of The Football Men

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Burns, Jimmy
Born in Madrid, Jimmy Burns studied in London and Lancashire, worked in Portugal, Spain and Buenos Aires and is an award winning journalist and author, who wrote the internationally acclaimed Hand of God: A Biography of Diego Maradona, La Roja, Bar‡a and When Beckham Went to Spain. He is married, and has two daughters. His favourite hobbies - apart from watching a good football match or playing football on the beach - include tennis, walking, and practicing yoga.

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