The usual depiction of Lionel Messi is of this humble, down to earth person only focused on football. Cristiano Ronaldo is usually portrayed as arrogant, self-absorbed, self-indulgent and quite busy thinking about how he is perceived by others. According to the two handling the same pitch invader in Granada matches, the opinions and prejudice might be wrong.

Barcelona beat Granada 2-1 last weekend, Lionel Messi scoring two goals. The mentioned pitch invader isn’t a first-time “offender”, but still had no problem clinging on to Messi, as he have to many La Liga stars, before being carried away by the stadium staff. Messi wasn’t exactly “cool” with the welcoming party, reluctantly trying to shake off the kind while he was helped by the staff next to him.

In May 2012, Real Madrid visited Granada on their way to a league title, winning 2-1. The same kind does the same thing to Cristiano Ronaldo, only to get a completely different reaction. Ronaldo isn’t too distraught by the situation, and goes on to give the boy a friendly rub on his head before he got carried away by security. The same kid manages to reach Ronaldo once again, and the Portuguese star has no problem returning the affection once more.

It’s not really an exact science, defining personalities by what we see on the pitch. The people behind the camera aren’t always as they seem when they put on their game face and put on a show for thousands in the stadiums and millions worldwide through the TV and computer screens. Still, maybe the perception of Ronaldo being out of touch nad obsessed with his image has been a bit harsh over the years. Maybe thinking of Messi as a naive little kid from Rosario isn’t exactly too in love with getting in touch with fans without some sort of barrier between them.