Video: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi? Top footballers around the world pick their favourite

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are arguably the two greatest footballers of our generation and the debate as to who is better has been going on for the last decade now. While Ronaldo’s speed, skills, goalscoring ability and sheer determination have won him many admirers in the world, Lionel Messi’s artistry, dribbling skills and close control have wowed many football fans, pundits and players.

So when top footballing personalities were asked to choose between Messi and Ronaldo, even they were hard pressed to pick their favourites. The video features Joe Hart, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamman, Owen Hargreaves, David Luiz, Michael Owen and Robin van Persie.

All the football stars have great difficulty in choosing between the two, but Messi slightly edges out his rival with 6 players picking him while 3 chose Cristiano Ronaldo. Among Ronaldo’s backers were former team-mates Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves.

Both of them agreed that the Portuguese superstar was a phenomenon and capable of scoring unbelievable and different type of goals. Michael Owen surprisingly said that if he was a manager, he would choose Cristiano Ronaldo. Owen also went on to say that he believed Lionel Messi sometimes relied on his excellent Barcelona team to put in stunning performances.

Among Lionel Messi’s backers, Steven Gerrard called Messi the greatest player of this generation. In his mind, there was no doubt as to who the better player was. Joe Hart and David Luiz believed that Messi narrowly edged out Ronaldo with Robin van Persie and Dietmar Hamman also agreeing with Luiz and Hart.

Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have redefined the way football has been played and there is no doubt that football fans all over the world are lucky to live in the era of Ronaldo and Messi. While their fans are involved in an endless debate as to who is better, Messi and Ronaldo themselves have huge respect for each other.

This year, Ronaldo has had the better of his long-time rival Messi. The Real Madrid superstar won the Ballon d’Or in December and is also the favourite to win the FIFA Best Player of the Year award which will be held on January 9^th.

However, Lionel Messi has been in sublime form in the last few matches and he will be hoping to guide Barcelona to many more trophies and glories this season.