"It's more than obvious" - Xavi explained why Messi is better than Ronaldo

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated world football for more than a decade now. Both have broken innumerable records and are widely regarded as the two best footballers of this generation.

The debate as to who is better between the two has raged on, with many notable figures from the game weighing in with their opinion. Current Barcelona manager and former teammate of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, feels that the Argentine superstar is clearly ahead of Ronaldo when it comes to influencing games.

His comments comparing Messi and Ronaldo from 2017 have resurfaced (via GiveMeSport) with Xavi explaining just why he considered the 7-time Ballon d'Or winner to be a better player:

“Messi does more things compared to Cristiano [Ronaldo]. Messi is the best. If Cristiano considers himself the best player in history, that’s fine, but those of us who see him train, there is no comparison.

“Messi is the best in history and we don’t see it any other way. Messi is the difference-maker and we always tried to give the ball to him in space with time to unbalance them. Messi is the player that makes the most difference in the world. It’s more than obvious.”

Xavi, of course, played with and won multiple trophies alongside Lionel Messi at Barcelona. It is not surprising that the legendary midfielder has sided with the Argentine superstar while comparing him to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will be looking to get back to their best in the 2022/23 season

After making a much-publicized move to PSG last summer, Messi struggled to hit the ground running and could only contribute 11 goals in 34 appearances last season.

The 35-year-old superstar looked to be coming back to his best at the tail end of the previous season and we could yet see the best version of the 7-time Ballon d'Or winner at Paris in the coming season.

Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, had a fine individual campaign for Manchester United, finishing as the club's top scorer. The Portuguese international scored 24 goals in 38 games last season, but the Red Devils failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, finishing sixth in the Premier League.

Ronaldo's future has been subject to intense speculation and the Portuguese superstar is reportedly looking for a move away from Old Trafford if the right offer comes in. It will be interesting to see where the 37-year-old will be playing in the coming season.

Where does Haaland rank in Paul Merson's 5 best Premier League transfers so far? Click here

Related： Manchester United Paris Saint-Germain Messi Ronaldo Paul Merson

Hot comments

Nandha77

82

2022-07-04 02:38

Messi is the youngest as well as Oldest Ballon d'or winning among active players 🐐👽
Nandha77

53

2022-07-04 02:50

🇧🇷Young Ronaldo Nazario had a Ballon d'or 🇬🇧 Young Wayne Rooney had a Golden Boy 🇪🇸 Young Pedri had an International 🇧🇷 Young POTT Young Vinicius JR had a Champions League 🇦🇷 Young Aguero had an Olympic gold medal . 🇦🇷Young Lionel Messi had these all 🐐👽
Lewbdkmnop

44

2022-07-04 03:05

I don't know where ronaldo played with normal players and perfomed at united he had the best players surrounding him (giggs, vidic, Ferdinand, etc) he left immediately those players were leaving, he joined Madrid at the time they had assembled the galaticus ( great players at every position). he left Madrid at the time the team was showing signs of slowing down to join Juventus which had won the last 6 consecutive league titles and were always constant in the UCL final or semi-final. He left them after the team has lost it strength in both the league and the UCL to join united at a time united were coming from a second place finish in the league and with his effort we finished 6th. The truth is he makes players around him look normal because he hardly create chances for others to score to improve the stats and image, all he does is to wait for his team mates to create the chance for him to score so he can take the glory. Messi on the other hand improve all the players around him look at the number of times he has created chances for the young players around him to score to improve their stats and image so in the end the young players around Messi are seen as great players and the great players and those around Ronaldo are seen as normal players
Yazaeilory

40

2022-07-04 02:41

Ronaldo ahead of Messi in terms. 1. GOALS 2. AGE 3. HEIGHT Ronaldo not even 10% of what Messi is in terms of football.
Lewbdkmnop

31

2022-07-04 03:08

Messi is the greatest to have ever played the game. he is the only player in history that can be considered as a great goal scorer, a great dribler, a great passer, a great play maker and the greatest goal creator in history. he is the only player to perfect all art together, never did football expected to see anything like that. all great players like maradona, pele, christiano ronaldo, romario, zedane, ronaldo, ronaldhino, etc only perfected one aspect of the game but he combined them all. that is why his debate with cr7 has only being limited to goals and that shows the greatness of messi, for playmaker to have a better goal to game ratio than cr7, (arguably the greatest goal scorer in history) is insane. players like messi only comes once in a million years
Yazaeilory

25

2022-07-04 02:38

Ronaldo sis on Insta is know as Elma and on AF knows as @JoyNg.
Yazaeilory

11

2022-07-04 02:21

Messi is guy who train and do hard work in silence and let his success make the noise unlike others who keep writing essay on social media.