Gareth Bale has risked the wrath of Cristiano Ronaldo by naming Lionel Messi as his choice for the best player to have ever won the Champions League.
Messi and Ronaldo have long battled to earn recognition for being the best player in football's history, winning a trove of major trophies. Ronaldo has won the European Cup five times, across spells with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
His bitter rival meanwhile, won it four times with Barcelona, though only played in three finals. Bale though is convinced that it is Messi, rather than his former team-mate at Madrid who is the greatest to have won Europe's premier competition.
The former winger, who retired after the World Cup, was taking part in a rapid-fire Q&A session with PlayStation House. The presenter asked the Welsh legend: "Best player to have won the Champions League?"
Bale quickly responded with "Messi", choosing the Argentine attacker over former team-mate Ronaldo. There had been reports of a rift between Bale and Ronaldo during their time at the Bernabeu.
But Bale also moved to deny those rumours, insisting that he enjoyed playing alongside the Los Blancos legend. He had also faced opposition from many Madrid supporters, but played down the affect of that on his career.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who is the greatest player to have won the Champions League? Comment below.
"Cristiano is an incredible player, I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him. Obviously the media try and hype up these problems which were never there. We got on really well," Bale added.
"He's an incredible player and what he did for the club with the amount of goals he scored. An incredible player and he is still going now. I just remember my unveiling at the stadium, and there was about 40,000 to 50,000 people there and I was just like 'oh my god.'
"It felt amazing to finally be there because it had been a long road in that transfer window, obviously. I appreciated everything Tottenham had done for me. But I think they did understand at the time that when such a big club comes in for you like Real Madrid it is difficult to turn them down.
"Even though I was enjoying my time at Tottenham, loved the club and I still do, to have Real Madrid come for you, you'll regret saying no."
Bale's crowning of Messi marks a major U-turn on his opinion of the superstar duo. Back when he was still playing for Madrid, the Welshman made it clear that he favoured Ronaldo in the debate around the duo.
He said: “For me, personally, I’d say Ronaldo. He’s got the whole package. He’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s pacey, can head the ball, strike the ball. Obviously, you can’t say anything bad about Messi, but for the all-round complete footballer, I’d say Cristiano Ronaldo.”
