Piers Morgan ranks Messi as fourth best ever behind Ronaldo and two shock names

PIERS MORGAN has named Lionel Messi as the FOURTH greatest footballer of all-time.

Messi, 35, reached his second World Cup final in sensational style on Tuesday night as he scored and assisted in Argentina's 3-0 victory over Croatia.

Yet despite Messi's influencial displays in Qatar, Morgan still believes Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest player of all time.

The SunSport columnist did begin by acknowledging Messi and Argentina for reaching the final.

Speaking on Twitter, he said: "Congratulations to Argentina & Lionel Messi on reaching the World Cup final. Never doubted them."

But England legend Gary Lineker, who has always maintained Messi is the best ever, then asked Morgan: "Is there still a debate? Asking for a goat."

To which he replied: "There isn't. It's Ronaldo."

Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling then pressed him on his take, saying: "So where are we now @piersmorgan in the Ronaldo v Messi debate?"

And Morgan responded by insisting Messi doesn't even break into his top three, ranking both Diego Maradona and even Brazilian Ronaldo ahead of him too.

He said: "I think Cristiano Ronaldo's the best ever, Maradona 2nd, Messi 3rd (possibly 4th actually, behind R9 [Brazilian Ronaldo])."

Last month, Morgan's explosive interview with Ronaldo ultimately led to his Manchester United contract being terminated.

Ronaldo then headed to the World Cup with Portugal as a free agent and scored in their opening 3-2 win over Ghana.

But struggles against Uruguay and South Korea followed, before he was dropped for their 6-1 win over Switzerland in the last-16.

And Fernando Santos' men were then eliminated by Morocco in the quarter-finals as Ronaldo's hopes of winning the World Cup came to an end.

Yet his long-time rival Messi has kept his dream alive and will have the chance to solidify his claims as the greatest to have played the game in the final on Sunday.