juaneferreyra / X (left), leomessi / Instagram (right)
There’s a rivalry in football that continues to delight the world: Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi.
While the star’s are neck and neck on the pitch, their off-field rivalry is hotting up, too.
Both have earned their fortunes playing the game they love, and neither is afraid to splash the cash when it comes to treating themselves.
While Ronaldo has a penchant for expensive watches and private jets, Lionel Messi likes to spend his earnings on building his real estate portfolio and car collection.
On the subject of the latter, the second richest footballer on the planet owns a fleet of luxury cars.
From a Mercedes SUV to a Cadillac Escalade fit for a US president, his collection is nothing short of incredible – but what takes pride of place in Messi’s garage?
Pagani
Apparently, the Argentinian star has an ultra-rare Pagani Zonda Tricolore in his collection.
We say apparently, as there’s no pictures of Lionel Messi flaunting his the exotic car – but more on why that might be later.
The Pagani Zonda Tricolore was originally conceived as a one-off in tribute to the Frecce Tricolori, Italy’s aerobatic team.
In the end, three were produced and Lionel Messi reportedly owns one of them.
Pagani
The famous supercar is worth a whopping $4 million, but you could say that’s money well spent if you consider it comes equipped with a 7.3-liter V12 producing 670 horses.
That colossal lump is capable of rocketing the supercar to 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standstill in 3.4 seconds, and on top a top speed of 344 km/h (214 mph).
As for why Messi has never been seen his Zonda Tricolore – the exotic car’s not actually road legal.
That raises the question – what he does with it when he can’t drive on public roads?
Pagani
Pagani
The obvious answer would be he must take it on the track – but is even allowed to do that, considering he’s arguably one of teh best footballers in the world.
Who knows, but even if it’s just a showpiece, it’s hardly going to make much of a dent financially seen as he’s reportedly worth $600 million.
Pocket change, really.
