10 former Cristiano Ronaldo teammates who have declared Lionel Messi the GOAT

While most of Cristiano Ronaldo’s former teammates give him the edge over Lionel Messi in the GOAT debate, there are some notable exceptions.

The debate surrounding Ronaldo and Messi has rumbled on for over a decade and while both players are now winding down in their later years, fans and players alike still regularly debate the topic.

We’ve taken a closer look at some of Ronaldo’s former teammates and have found 10 of them who think that Messi is the better player.

Wayne Rooney

Despite never getting the chance to play alongside Messi, Rooney has made it no secret that he prefers the Argentine magician when it comes to the GOAT debate.

“I think Messi, I think he’s just the best ever,” Rooney said on the Overlap.

“I get a lot of stick for saying Messi where it’s as if, ‘How can you say Messi, it’s Ronaldo.’ I understand that people can say Messi, people can say Ronaldo.”

Paul Scholes

While Scholes is always very complimentary of Ronaldo, in 2019 he told ESPN that Messi is the better ‘all-round footballer’ between the two of them.

“Watching Messi against Tottenham at Wembley [in 2019] made me think about the Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo debate again,” Scholes said.

“Messi, but Ronaldo is brilliant. Ronaldo is sensational at what he does, with pace and power. He scores, he takes free-kicks.

“But as an all-round footballer, Messi – wow, his passing – has absolutely everything.”

Sergio Ramos

Ramos won four Champions League finals alongside Ronaldo, but he switched his answer in the GOAT debate once he got the chance to play with Messi at PSG.

“There was suffering for several years playing against Messi. I am now enjoying him,” Ramos told reporters.

“He is the best player football has ever produced.”

Angel Di Maria

This one shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Despite playing alongside Ronaldo for four seasons at Real Madrid, he shares a much closer bond with his Argentine teammate.

“At the end of the day, the best player is the one with the most Ballon d’Or awards, and Leo has eight,” Di Maria said.

“So for me, there’s a certain gap between him and Cristiano.”

Gianluigi Buffon

The legendary goalkeeper has great respect for both players, but during an interview back in 2018, he did concede that Messi is the more ‘complete’ player out of the two.

“They are two completely different players,” Buffon told reporters.

“Messi is more complete, because he starts deeper, has more technical quality and a vision of the game that is worthy more of a trequartista than a finisher.

“Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps because he is a little older, has become a killer in the penalty area. Compared to how he was before, Ronaldo preserves his energy more, so he no longer goes out to the flank for a nutmeg or trick-shot, but with one ball into the box he can create a goal.”

Mesut Ozil

The German playmaker has gone back and forth over the years when it comes to the GOAT debate, but these days he seems to be in Messi’s camp.

“It’s a difficult question.. but I will choose Messi because he won the World Cup,” Ozil said last year when asked to pick between both players.

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Carlos Tevez

The former Manchester United striker was lucky enough to play alongside both players during his playing career.

He’s always been very complimentary of them both, but during an interview with ESPN in 2018, he did give the edge to Messi.

“Cristiano is totally different to Messi,” Tevez said. “When Leo was starting out, he didn’t touch a gym. But Cristiano was there in the morning, afternoon and evening, all the time.

“Cristiano had to work and prepare himself to be the best, while for Leo it comes naturally. Those are the greatest differences that I see between the two best players on the planet.

“Messi plays another sport. For Messi to score three goals [in any given game] is normal.”

Gerard Pique

Pique spent the peak years of his career playing alongside Messi at Barcelona, but he did briefly spend some time playing with Ronaldo during his early years at Manchester United.

When speaking about the two players in 2016, he told BT Sport: “I always said that Messi has some talent that no one has.

“I mean, he has the ball and his speed controlling the ball. The ball doesn’t go two metres far from his foot, it’s always there. It’s impossible to catch him, this talent I didn’t see from anyone.”

QUIZ: Can you name all 27 players who have played alongside both Messi and Ronaldo?

Dimitar Berbatov

Berbatov spent one year at Old Trafford playing alongside Ronaldo, but he didn’t mince his words when choosing between the two GOATs.

“He’s the f***ing greatest,” Berbatov told ESPN in 2017 when discussing Messi.

“Ronaldo is brilliant, Messi is more my kind of player. He sees the game so clearly. He can score, create, he’s the complete player, the best ever probably.”

Wojciech Szczesny

Despite previously sharing a dressing room with Ronaldo during his Juventus days, Szczesny considers Messi to be the greatest of all time.

“I still don’t know how I saved Messi’s penalty,” Szczesny said when discussing his penalty save against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup.

“But it’s a nice feeling because I consider him to be the best player in the history of our game.”