Cristiano Ronaldo picked up his fourth Ballon d’Or earlier this month and while many consider him to be the best player of the year and quite possibly this generation, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola still believes that his former protege Lionel Messi is a cut above the rest, including Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar has had a stellar year, guiding Real Madrid to the Champions League, winning Euro 2016 with Portugal and most recently scoring a hat-trick in the Club World Cup final to win his third major trophy.
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Lionel Messi, on the other hand, has been at his dazzling best especially in the latter half of the year, turning in some stupendous performances, the most recent of which being the mesmerising performance in the derby against Espanyol.
Also read: Reports - Cristiano Ronaldo has beaten Lionel Messi to the FIFA Best Player of the Year award
After the derby, Luis Enrique had claimed that Lionel Messi did not need to win any ‘Golden Melons’ to be crowned the best player of the world. While Guardiola fell short of making such disparaging comments about the Ballon d’Or, he did agree with the Barcelona manager that Messi was best in the world.
"I agree with Luis. Messi is the best, he is definitely the best," he told reporters.
"He knows how to play, score and make the other players play. He is always there.
"With all the respect to all the players, first to Cristiano Ronaldo – congratulations to him for the award – I think Messi is on another level."
With the La Liga currently on a winter break, the stupendous pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will resume their rivalry nest year when both Real Madrid and Barcelona will look to assert their dominance in the Spanish League.
Currently, the Barcelona board are working on renewing Lionel Messi’s contract. While there were several reports that contract talks had hit a roadblock, Barcelona President Josep Bartomeu remained confident that a deal will be agreed soon.
“There are no doubts that sooner or later we will close Messi's renewal. I hope that he ends his sporting career here and after that, I'm sure he will remain linked to the club. He is, without doubt, the best player in the history of the game and we will make a huge effort to renew his contract."
