Hernan Crespo gives his verdict on the Cristiano Ronaldo - Lionel Messi debate

Former Argentinian striker Hernan Crespo spoke to Football Italia and gave his thoughts about who the better player is between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Unsurprisingly, Crespo picked his fellow Argentinian Lionel Messi.

“I am looking forward to seeing Juve-Barcelona [in the Champions League] but I would choose Messi without taking anything away from Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Leo is a compatriot, I guy who I saw growing up. The Copa America is on next summer, Argentina and Colombia are the organizers. I hope we can go all way to the end.”

Hernan Crespo also weighed in on Andrea Pirlo, his former AC Milan teammate, being named the Juventus manager.

"I am really happy for [Andrea] Pirlo. Andrea is an extraordinary person and I always wish good things to nice people," he said.

“We played together [at AC Milan], we shared a lot of feelings. I remember him and Sandro Nesta shared the room and I always went to disturb them. We spent some amazing moments of joy."

In 2020/21Cristiano Ronaldo 🇵🇹Games - 5 Goals - 5Non-penalty goals - 4Goal ratio - 1.00Lionel Messi 🇦🇷Games - 8Goals - 3Non-penalty goals - 0Goal ratio - 0.3835 years old Cristiano Ronaldo is outperforming 33 years old Leo Messi. I know my GOAT.🐐

— P/R Football (@prfootbaII) October 24, 2020

Lionel Messi fails to inspire Barcelona in El Clasico

Despite being touted by many of his peers as the best player of all time, Lionel Messi failed to impact Barcelona's 1-3 loss to Real Madrid in the first El Clasico of the season.

Barcelona's number 10 had a golden opportunity to put his team 2-1 up after Federico Valverde's early goal had been cancelled out by Ansu Fati's neat equalizer.

However, Messi opted to go near post instead of far after bamboozling Sergio Ramos on the dribble and saw his tame effort saved by Thibaut Courtois.

After that, the game evolved into a tighter affair with neither team having too many clear cut chances.

It took a comical leap from Sergio Ramos for VAR to award Real Madrid a 63rd minute penalty which the Spanish defender then converted.

Luka Modric's 90th minute goal proved to be academic as the team from Madrid had the game wrapped up by then.

Lionel Messi's goal drought this season, having only scored 2 in 6 appearances for Barcelona, continues.

Lionel Messi hasn't scored or assisted in his six El Clasico appearances since Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid 👀 pic.twitter.com/miOBRxDqVz

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 24, 2020