Jose Mourinho's true feelings towards Lionel Messi after lengthy rivalry

Argentina and Roma attacker Paulo Dybala has revealed that Jose Mourinho 'loves' Lionel Messi despite him regularly having a few digs at the Argentine over the years.

The legendary Portuguese manager has never coached Messi, but has long been an opponent of his, with Real Madrid in La Liga as well as on several occasions with teams he has managed in the Champions League.

The now-Roma manager has long held the opinion that his countryman Cristiano Ronaldo is the better player of the two, even criticising Messi for his lack of defensive work. However, Dybala has put to bed any idea of the two feuding, with him stating that Mourinho called him after they won the World Cup and made his feelings towards Messi known.

Dybala revealed to Tyc Sports: "When the final against France ended, I was in the traditional doping room, then I got to the locker room, I grabbed the phone to talk to my family and I had five missed calls from Mou. I think I called him first then my mother.

"He was very happy because he loves Argentines. He always tells me wonderful things about Di Maria and Messi too, he loves them very much. All the Argentinians have given him something more in their teams and he speaks very highly of everyone. He has great affection for all Argentines.”

In interviews throughout his time as a manager, Mourinho has stated that he believes Ronaldo to be the superior player over Messi. Mourinho once said: "I keep saying it’s harder to be Cristiano than Lionel Messi. I’ll tell you: Messi grew up in the team he plays for now; with the teammates, he plays with now. Cristiano came from England to a team that was losing."

In a 2012 interview, he take a swipe of Messi's lack of defensive work, while stating that the Argentinian is 'protected'.

He said: "One plays centre forward and the other is a winger. Messi is about 50 metres closer to the goal and has less defensive work. How can a winger score the same amount of goals as a centre forward does?"

On Ronaldo, he said: "This is a winger that defends, a winger that ends the game in the 94th minute with a sprint to chase Pedro in a goal scoring position. This is a player that, in dead ball situations, comes 20 times to the defensive area. He is very important in the defensive setup and he is not protected."

The debate between Messi and Ronaldo has been less of an intense one since the former won the World Cup alongside Dybala in 2022 - a year after winning the Copa America as the first two trophies he'd lifted with his national team.