Both Ighalo & Matic agree Ronaldo is better than Messi because of his hard work

Manchester United duo Odion Ighalo and Nemanja Matic both agree Cristiano Ronaldo has had to work harder in his career than Lionel Messi.

Over the last few days Ighalo and Matic have both been asked to give their verdict on the great debate, with the Nigerian forward certain of his favourite.

"I would take Ronaldo," Ighalo answered during a Periscope interview on Twitter with Juliet Bawuah.

"Because the hard work, I believe in hard work. Messi is blessed. Messi is a genius, he is incredible. But for Ronaldo to be putting on work every day to try to catch Messi, to try to win, to try to do everything it is incredible.

"You see Ronaldo at his age you see how hardworking he is still. That is the kind of mentality I have."

Serbia international Matic agreed with his teammate that Ronaldo has had to work a bit harder in his club career, but he believes it is too hard to pick between the two.

“If you ask my son, Ronaldo [is better than Messi],” Matic told Omnisport.

“They are different, they are different. Ronaldo, of course, he had talent but most of his success, he made because of his hard work.

“Messi is talented. I'm not saying that he didn't work, for sure he worked, but they are different.

“For me it is hard to say who is the best. I think that over the last 15 years, they're both the best.

“Some people may say Messi, some Ronaldo but for me they've been at the same level for 15 years.

“What they are doing is very hard, to keep that level for 15 years. It's not easy to always be the best.

“I don't know who is better from those two players, but I'm sure both of them are maybe the best players in football history.”