Ronaldo calls arch rival Messi 'a great guy who does great things for football'

Cristiano Ronaldo has heaped praise on his long-time rival Lionel Messi and claimed the Argentinian is 'magic'.

Ronaldo has hit the headlines over the past week after the release of his bombshell interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV.

Within the controversial sit-down with Morgan, Ronaldo slammed the current state of the club, along with heavily criticising Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and former teammates including Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney, while he also tore into the attitudes of the younger players at the club.

However, he also discussed other several wide-ranging issues, including the topic of Messi - with the pair no doubt the greatest players of their generation.

In fact, between 2008 to 2021, Ronaldo and Messi won the Ballon d'Or 12 times out of 13, with Luka Modric in 2018 being the only time neither of them was victorious.

Messi had the edge on Ronaldo, winning the award seven times, compared to Ronaldo's five victories but there is no doubt there is huge mutual respect between the pair.

In the second part of his interview with Morgan that was aired on Thursday, Ronaldo explained that he strongly admired the PSG star.

'Amazing player, he is magic, top,' Ronaldo said.

'As a person, we share the stage 16 years, imagine, 16 years we share. So, I have great relationship with him.

'I'm not a friend of him in terms of, what I mean friend is the guy who was with you in your house, speaking on the phone, no, but it's like a teammate.

'He’s a guy that I really respect the way he always speaks about me. Even his wife or my wife, my girlfriend, they always respect and they're from Argentina.

'My girlfriend is from Argentina. So good. What I am going to say about Messi? A great guy who does great things for football.

'Probably the best player I've ever seen (excluding myself). Maybe Zidane. That I play and fight with, yes.'

With Ronaldo's future at United uncertain, and Messi in the final year of his contract at PSG, the next step in both players' careers has been discussed in the media over recent months.

In fact, recently both Messi and Ronaldo have been linked with a move to Inter Miami - the MLS franchise that David Beckham co-owns and who are managed by Phil Neville.

And Ronaldo later joked that if they played together on the same team, they would 'sell a lot of shirts'.