What’s the story?
Former Real Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque believes Barcelona star Lionel Messi is superior to Cristiano Ronaldo when it comes to who is the greatest player in this generation.
In case you didn’t know…
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the football landscape in the last decade, with the pair winning the Ballon d’Or award five times apiece. Both players have, therefore, often divided opinion among fans when it comes to picking the best player in this generation.
Indeed, while some prefer Messi, others also believe Ronaldo is the better player, as the debate continues to rumble on.
Although Vicente Del Bosque is yet to manager either player, the experienced coach has made his pick on which footballer is more talented.
The heart of the matter
Del Bosque described Ronaldo as an extraordinary goal scorer but believes Messi is more natural and has picked the Argentine as the superior player.
The former Real Madrid boss told Mundo Deportivo, as quoted by Goal:
"He [Messi] almost always plays well. There are players who never do it wrong. He has an impressive regularity. He is a great player.
"I'm staying with Messi. I see a more natural soccer player, from his time in the neighbourhood, playing with friends on the street. Even so, Cristiano has extraordinary courage, with physical and technical conditions as a great scorer, but I'm staying with Messi."
Del Bosque was, however, quick to add that Real Madrid have missed Ronaldo since the Portuguese joined Juventus last summer.
"He [Ronaldo] is a player who guarantees many goals and now it is harder for Madrid to score them," Del Bosque continued.
"Even so, there are other very good players, like Bale, who is a special boy with great conditioning, or Benzema, which has been badly spoken about but has fantastic qualities."
What’s next?
Both Messi and Ronaldo will be in action over the weekend as Barcelona and Juventus take on Real Madrid and Napoli, respectively.