Carragher says Messi is better than Ronaldo but he has more respect for CR7

Jamie Carragher is the latest football name to give his opinion into the age-old debate over which of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is better than the other.

It is one of the most hotly contested debates in football, and the Liverpool legend gave his opinion on the Pure Football Podcast with Guillem Balague.

The Sky Sports Pundit insists he has always seen Messi as the best player in the world but holds more 'respect' for Ronaldo.

Carragher when quizzed on the topic by Balague, said: 'Messi, I've never changed that. I think I'm with the majority on that.

'I think I have possibly more respect for Ronaldo and the reason I say that is because he has got unbelievable talent but his mentality, his focus, his work rate has made him what he is, or got him to where he is, has taken him to another level.

'Whenever you think he's finished or Messi's done something amazing, he comes back with something again and again and again.

'And it must have been tough for him at times. Even when he was at late stages at (Manchester)United, early days at (Real) Madrid where no matter what he did, people would say Messi, Messi, Messi. I think now it's a bit more even

'But I think with all those Ballon d'Ors Messi was winning, even when Ronaldo was playing out of his skin. But he still came back for more and that's what I respect so much.

'What I would say is, Ronaldo does things that other players can do but he does them more often. He scores more goals but I think Messi does things that other players can't do.

'So you see Ronaldo score a great goal and you think, 'Okay, well I've seen that before.'

'Ronaldo does it so often but Messi, the way he dribbles and runs with the ball, you very rarely see that in football now.

'I mean most teams don't even have a dribbler in the team anymore now. You don't see anyone run with the ball so... he does things that professional footballers are open-mouthed with, that's the best way to describe it.

It's not just supporters, it's top players thinking, 'I can't believe that. I can't believe he's done that.'

'And that spell with Pep going into Luis Enrique, that era of like seven/eight years when Barcelona were just off the scale, what Messi was doing.

'That's what I'd always go for Messi because he does things that other players can't and leave them open-mouthed.'

Ronaldo and Messi are arguably the two the most decorated footballers of all time winning a combined 64 trophies - 31 for Ronaldo and 33 for Messi.

The Argentinian has also won a record six Ballon d'Or trophies with the Portuguese star just one behind with five.