Breaking Down Cristiano Ronaldo's Performance for Real Madrid vs. Espanyol

There was a cruel irony in the way Cristiano Ronaldo all but wrapped up the Pichichi on the day Lionel Messi helped Barcelona wrap up La Liga.

It was something that played into the most basic of comparisons between the two players, something that gave ammunition to the people that think Ronaldo is only out for himself, while Messi is the ultimate team player.

Ronaldo battered a hat-trick past Espanyol in Real Madrid's 4-1 win over the Barcelona-based side, while 600 kilometres away, back in the Spanish capital, Messi's team overcame Atletico Madrid to lift the title.

Barcelona supporters will say that the day's events summed up the two players. How Messi went on to wrap up his fourth league title since 2009, while Cristiano only has one since moving to La Liga. How Messi can go on to win the Champions League for a fourth time, while Cristiano has only won it twice.

But take away the comparisons and Ronaldo is still an immense, freak of a player. He is, of course, destined to be placed against Messi forevermore, by virtue of the fact that they are both so far ahead of any other players from this era.

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There was a cruel irony too, in the way events unfolded. With both Barcelona and Madrid being held 0-0 at half time, Ronaldo made the breakthrough in the second half. That closed the four-point gap to just two, provided Atletico continued to stifle Barcelona's attack.

Having missed an easy chance in the first half, when Dani Carvajal swung over a delightful cross to the back post and Ronaldo headed the ball into the ground, and wide, the forward was determined to make amends.

In the 59th minute, Pepe stormed forward from the back to feed Karim Benzema, who nudged the ball on to Ronaldo. One touch, second touch, and the third saw the ball lashed past Kiko Casilla and into the far corner.

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It took just six minutes, for Messi to do the same at the Vicente Calderon. There were even similarities in the goals, with Messi receiving the ball back from Pedro and taking just three touches to dispatch it from the left-hand side of the box into the far corner.

Obviously the Barca man wasn't to know that Ronaldo had scored for Madrid, or how he had done it, so it was just a quirk of fate that Messi scored a similar goal. But again, it played into this idea of cruel irony, that anything Ronaldo can do, Messi can do better.

Of course, that isn't true; both players have their strengths and weaknesses, albeit very few weaknesses.

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That was enough for Messi, job done, but Ronaldo continued to push for more and got his hat-trick in the final minutes.

After setting up Marcelo with a neat lay-off for Real Madrid's second, Ronaldo benefited from some excellent support work from Javier Hernandez. The Mexican held the ball up perfectly for Ronaldo, who rammed home from inside the box.

The third goal came when James Rodriguez whipped in the ball from the left and Ronaldo headed home at the back post. It was a good header, but not great goalkeeping from the Espanyol stopper.

It was enough for Ronaldo to take home the match ball, and he will almost certainly take home the Pichichi, with 45 goals to Messi's 41.

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Ronaldo will have another run out in the sun against Getafe next week, a chance to fatten his goal tally still further, but then that's it, no more games, no finals.

That, along with the lack of a European summer football tournament, may well suit Ronaldo, who at multiple times this year hasn't looked as dynamic as he used to.

With a summer off and a good pre-season, his Ballon d'Or trophy on the line, Ronaldo may return next season with a vengeance.