Former Juventus defender Antonio Cabrini feels Cristiano Ronaldo is a better player than Lionel Messi because the Portugal star has proven to be a real leader both on and off the pitch.
"Ronaldo is probably the best player in the world," Cabrini told reporters at a Betfair event at Allianz Stadium.
"Obviously the focus in football over the last 10 years has been on the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo.
"My personal opinion is that Ronaldo is better than Messi, but mainly in terms of leadership. Ronaldo has proven himself to be a real leader on a lot of occasions and not just on the pitch. He is a leader in his life as well as in sports.
"So with all due respect to Messi, there have been a few instances in his career that he came up short.
"That being said, we are speaking about two great players, I think we can all agree on that."
Although Ronaldo was unable to deliver Champions League glory in 2018-19, Juventus did manage to clinch their eighth consecutive Serie A title and Cabrini believes they are on another level than all their domestic rivals.
"Whether it's the transfer market or commercial activities, Juventus always plan ahead," Cabrini added.
"That's the reason they are ahead of their rivals. When the other Italian teams start their transfer activity, Juventus have already completed the two or three key men they wanted to in that window.
"Another example is that Juventus are the first big team in Italy to own its own stadium. They all speak about it but nobody else has started to build their own home."
Tobacknoru
226
Messi is a Barçelona leader only. Cristiano Ronaldo is a Juventus leader, a Real Madrid leader, a Manchester United leader and a Portuguese National Team leader. He is a leader all round, on/off the pitch.
lented
177
It's obvious...no argument....We see this everywhere.....
Moomin17
126
Yes messi is a leader. He's not a loud one but he is. It's the way you look at it. Not as commanding but it's something thats there. You don't become one of if not the greatest player of all time by just existing. All you fools who think that the only way to lead is by saying some RAH RAH BLAH BLAH speech for all the fans to see are just ignorant.Some people aren’t as vocal as others and just choose to lead by exampleexample. ❤❤❤
Banbdelry
98
true cr7, is a better leader which he based his point on meanwhile messi is a better player ..captain aren't always the best players ..so being a good leader doesn't make you.a good or better leader
CrisRon7SSA
80
Yes and he has proven in top 3 league so far. Ronaldo is one of kind. The hunger the determination to be at top and to lead the team day in day out. It's not a joke. With all due respect to messi In my opinion too Ronaldo is ahead as he has proven everywhere.
KarthickJr
69
Lionel Messi is actually terrible as a leader. He’s more of a reserved guy, and usually, such people don’t do well as leaders per se. He isn’t vocal, and Mascherano is a better leader. He’s the best player in the team-country or club side, so to keep all ego in check for Argentina, he was handed the armband. A player like him needs to be free, and just be left alone to do his talking on the pitch! He doesn’t know how to rally his troops-as Ronaldo was able to do for Portugal, in the concluded Euros, which surprised me a bit. Guess you can’t be the best at everything. The best players don’t necessary make the best captains. I feel just above average players tend to have this qualities in the team, most times. But then in clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, the armband is a matter of seniority…..who came to the team before who. Just so you know has Barca have already Bottled twice and Argentina last finals twice under his captaincy!!!!!!!
Maxpower
63
I say it. Both are great, both are the GOATS of football, a rivalry we'll never see again, and yes, to me and to many Ronaldo should be seen as a better captain. Messi is a quiet guy on the field, we see it all the time for the last 10 years, Messi leads by performing, but a captains role is not to perform, it is to lead the team and correct them on their mistakes on the field. Messi is a great personality for being so humble, but he's TOO HUMBLE for my liking, this year we saw De Ligt, an 19 year old Ajax captain yell at 30+ year old Tadic in the middle of a semi final in the Champions League. While I saw Messi remain quiet and scratch his head when Liverpool kept scoring. Ronaldo complains, Ronaldo cries, for small mistakes, Messi for me needs to change his attitude, he's too quiet on the field and being a captain you can never stop talking to your teammates in the middle of the match, you must keep constant communication and tell them where to be and what to do when they make a mistake. They're both the GOATs and we'll never see something like them ever again, but Messi for me lacked the fire to yell at his teammates for their mistakes, which cost him many possible finals and titles
SupratikMukherjee
49
The real deal is it's always the players, ex-players, coaches, ex-coaches, fan associated with only those 3 clubs where Ronald spent his career speak so highly about him which is quite normal...Messi has been loyal to one club and fools and I repeat FOOLS keep on claiming that Ronaldo can fit into any team ahead of Messi just because we did not see Messi demonstrate that...it's more important to see how players, fans and coaches from neutral clubs recognize between these 2 legends...and we all know the answer is LM10...having said that I also agree Ronaldo has more leadership carishma than Messi...on other accounts, the answer is well known and accepted by footballing fraternity...no point to argue further...
entecto71
9
Yes messi is a leader. He's not a loud one but he is. It's the way you look at it. Not as commanding but it's something thats there. You don't become one of if not the greatest player of all time by just existing. All you fools who think that the only way to lead is by saying some RAH RAH BLAH BLAH speech for all the fans to see are just ignorant.Some people aren’t as vocal as others and just choose to lead by exampleexample. ❤❤❤
Dude pls leading is all about motivating your team, being quite and looking down and out after conceding instead of motivating your team is the perfect example of a bad leader. Messi is goat but stop trying to praise him in areas where clearly he deserves no praise.