"Out of this world, embarrassing" - When Mario Balotelli picked between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is one of the numerous sportsmen who have had their say in the Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo debate. He, however, tipped the former as the best among the two superstars in a post on his Instagram account in 2019.

Balotelli made this known after the Argentina international engineered an emphatic 3-0 victory for Barcelona against Liverpool in the first leg of the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

Ronaldo had just completed a move to Juventus from Real Madrid the previous summer. The Bianconeri were eliminated by Ajax in the quarter-finals.

After the Blaugrana's semi-final encounter, Balotelli posted:

"For the good of football, please don't compare him [Messi] to Juve's Number 7 [Ronaldo] again."

The Italian, however, came out to clarify his comments after picking the Argentine icon over Ronaldo in 2019. He spoke to Football Italia (as per 90min):

"If we're talking statistically, they're the same. But as someone who played against both, I can say that, in my opinion, Lionel is out of this world, embarrassing. You can never get the better of him."

He continued:

"In terms of quality, Lionel is better than everyone. I'm convinced that if you ask a defender if they would rather play against Messi or Ronaldo, they would have no doubts.

Both players are phenomenal, true, but they're not the same. If there was no Messi, Ronaldo would be the best in the world."

Balotelli concluded by saying that he has a lot of respect for the Paris Saint-Germain star. He also stated that he loves how Messi trains and also takes care of his body as an athlete, saying:

"I have a lot of respect for him, for how he trains, and it's a pleasure to watch him play and see how he managed to work on his body.

"Then people take it out on me and say I don't know what I'm talking about... We're talking about the two best players in the world."

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Messi snubbed as Christophe Galtier names four PSG vice-captains

Lionel Messi wasn't included in the four names mentioned by PSG head coach Christophe Galtier as the club's vice-captains.

Galitier was in the news last week after he named Kylian Mbappe as the club's vice-captain for the 2022-23 season.

However, his comments didn't go down well with Presnel Kimpembe. The French defender later reacted to the news of Mbappe being PSG's vice-captain, which came as a surprise to him.

Galtier later cleared the air, stating that his comments were made erroneously. He went on to mention that Mbappe was among three other players who are the club's recognized vice-captains.

He said (via the Daily Mail):

"Mbappé vice-captain? It's a communication error. I misspoke. Kylian is one of the vice-captains. We have four: Mbappé, Ramos, Kimpembe and Verratti.

"Kylian is ONE of the vice-captains, but he is not THE vice-captain."

Marquinhos remains the captain of the Ligue 1 table-toppers.