Piers Morgan has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo was "incredibly respectful" of Lionel Messi when they had dinner after their first interview together.
The Talk TV presenter detailed a private chat with the former Manchester United forward after Messi helped Argentina into the World Cup final with a 3-0 win over Croatia on Tuesday. The Paris Saint-Germain star has been one of the stars of the tournament so far, having grabbed five goals from his six appearances.
Messi is currently the joint-top scorer at the Qatar World Cup alongside Kylian Mbappe and will be hoping to guide his side all the way when Argentina face either Morocco or France on Sunday. His impressive performance against Croatia further sparked the discussion between him and Ronaldo about who is the greatest of all-time.
There has been many debates over the years surrounding the topic, but Morgan has confirmed that Ronaldo has nothing but respect for Messi. The 37-year-old has won two fewer Ballon d'Ors than Messi during his career, although he has won more Champions League titles.
Asked by Ally McCoist if Morgan accepts that neither would have been as good without the other around, he told talkSPORT : "I had a very interesting conversation with Cristiano. We had dinner after our first interview together about three years ago.
"It was a really great conversation, I really like him as a person, he was incredibly respectful of Messi and I said to him, 'who's the best player you've ever seen?' And he said, 'oh Messi, but you're asking the wrong question, you're not asking me who's the best player'.
"Because of course he hadn't seen himself play live. That made me laugh. But he talked about the pair of them and he said, 'you know, the difference between us and a lot of other greats like the other Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, George Best, Gazza, is the longevity that they've had.'
"Ronaldo and Messi have had 18-19 years at the very top of their game and that's. a testament to their extraordinary dedication, remarkable physical fitness, they've barely had any injuries in that time, I think their rivalry without question has driven them to even greater heights. I think both wake up in the morning and see how the other has done and it spurs them on. I think it's one of the great rivalries of any sport ever, we're lucky to have them."
Ronaldo's World Cup campaign came to a crushing end in the quarter-final when they bowed out against Morocco. The former Real Madrid man had a tricky tournament, having been dropped for the last 16 clash with Switzerland as his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored an impressive hat-trick.
The experienced front man was also benched for the meeting with Morocco but was called upon in the 51st minute as Portugal chased the game. Ronaldo struggled to make an impact during his time on the pitch as Fernando Santos' side suffered a shock defeat.
