Despite claiming he doesn’t miss their intense rivalry, Cristiano Ronaldo wants Lionel Messi to follow him to Italy and test his skills in Serie A.

Speaking in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the former Real Madrid icon said,

“I do not fear Messi, I dominated the Premier League and the La Liga. I challenge Leo Messi to come to Serie A. I hope he accepts my challenge and we battle one day in the Italian League. But if he is happy, I respect him. He is a fantastic player.””

However, the forward isn’t forcing anything on Messi as Ronaldo added that he will still respect the Argentinian super star even if he decided to remain at Barcelona.

Ronaldo stated that he consider playing in Serie A as a challenging step in his long footballing career, that saw him previously playing in Portugal, England and Spain.

Acknowledging that Messi has basically been a one man club, Ronaldo still hope that it can change sometime in the future.

The 33-year-old also claimed that he hasn’t really miss anything since his departure from Madrid since everything has been great for him at Juventus.

Ronaldo even added on how he enjoy the family and strong team atmosphere he has been experiencing so far in Turin.

Despite playing less than half a season with Juve, Ronaldo says that he already felt like home and very happy.

Messi and Ronaldo have won the Ballon d’Or on five occasions each, but their decade-long duopoly was ended when Madrid midfielder Luka Modric won the award this month.