Gerard Pique has chosen Lionel Messi over his old Manchester United colleague Cristiano Ronaldo in the GOAT (greatest of all time) debate.
Pique joined United from Barcelona in 2004, a year after Ronaldo had arrived from Portugal and the pair spent four years together at the club before the Spaniard returned to Barca in 2008. They played together in just 15 matches under Sir Alex Ferguson but featured against each other more than twice as often for club and country in the ensuing years.
As Barcelona and Real Madrid were competing with one another for every trophy domestically and in the Champions League during that time, Pique could rely on the presence of Messi at the opposite end of the pitch, featuring more than 500 times together before the Argentine rather reluctantly left the club to join Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
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Asked whether it is, in fact, no longer even up for debate that Messi is the greatest ever after he lifted the World Cup in Qatar, Pique told John Nellis: “Well, it’s true that the fight between them two in this last decade was quite impressive because both of them did incredibly well. I think that in terms of talent, Messi is number one, for sure.
“It’s true that Cristiano has worked very hard to try to compete and fight for that first spot, but if you see the careers of both, I would say that, if you want to compare, which I hate to do, but it's true that everyone talks about that [who is better] in the last few years, I would choose Messi, for sure.
“And he showed that still, even if he is 35, he can compete as the best player in the world. He just showed that in the World Cup.”
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