Lionel Messi celebrated his 37th birthday on June 24, 2024, although he may not have had much of an opportunity to throw a party.
The Inter Miami star is on Copa America duty with Argentina and, with their next Group A game against Chile coming up Tuesday, June 25, Messi's focus is very much on winning the tournament for the second edition in a row.
Social media was awash with posts paying tribute to the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward, but one in particular caused something of a diplomatic row with fans of Messi's longtime rival, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Sporting News explains how a simple birthday message led to plenty of Ronaldo fans becoming very cross indeed.
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Lionel Messi birthday: Why Cristiano Ronaldo fans are angry with Guinness World Records
Messi received millions of social media posts wishing him a happy birthday when he turned 37 on Monday, June 24, 2024.
Some were simple good wishes; others recognised the astonishing career achievements of the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Happy birthday to Lionel Messi 🐐
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) June 24, 2024
Most wins of the Ballon d'Or 🏆
Most goals scored in a calendar year 🔥
Most liked post on Instagram 📸 pic.twitter.com/OgWEMWnuAl
One, from the official Guinness World Records X account, read: "Happy birthday to Lionel Messi" with a goat emoji. The post also listed three of the Argentina captain's achievements: most Ballon d'Or wins, most goals scored in a calendar year and the most-liked post on Instagram.
Naturally, Ronaldo fans were not happy — and not just because of the suggestion that Messi, not the all-time men's international goalscorer, might be the GOAT of world football. Many of them were simply angry that the GWR account had not wished a happy birthday to Ronaldo.
When one X user asked why Ronaldo had not received the same treatment, GWR replied: "cos it's not his birthday."
cos it's not his birthday
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) June 24, 2024
Presumably, Ronaldo's supporters were referring to his birthday on February 5, and the fact the GWR account did not acknowledge his special day. It appears that forgetting this date was borderline unforgiveable, regardless of how many times Guinness World Records have honoured Ronaldo's finest career achievements.
"Thank you to the Guinness World Records. Always good to be recognized as a world record breaker. Let’s keep trying to set the numbers even higher!💪🏽"
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) September 3, 2021
Congratulations @Cristiano!
Full story 👉 https://t.co/WTcHcOZSoZ pic.twitter.com/FQ5X0zM6Wu
MORE: Messi vs. Ronaldo all-time career stats
Is Cristiano Ronaldo older than Lionel Messi? Age of football superstars
Ronaldo is roughly 2 1/2 years older than Messi.
Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985 — making him exactly seven years older than Neymar — while Messi was born on June 24, 1987. That means Ronaldo is 39, while Messi is 37.
Both players made their senior football debuts at the age of 16: Ronaldo in 2002, and Messi a year later.
