The Roma legend believes football has lost some of its romanticism due to large transfer fees, but he is still smitten with the Barcelona star
Francesco Totti believes Lionel Messi is the best player in the world despite Cristiano Ronaldo pulling level on five Ballons d'Or apiece earlier this month.
Real Madrid's dual La Liga and Champions League triumphs last season set Ronaldo up to claim world football's premier individual prize but Messi has also blazed a familiarly impressive trail.
The mercurial Argentinian inspired a 3-0 win for Barca at the Santiago Bernabeu last Saturday, with Ronaldo a largely becalmed presence in the latest edition of the Clasico.
Totti was a similarly adored figure during a superb playing career at Roma that spanned three decades.
Although he now sees events such as Neymar's world-record move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain as an example of football breaking distastefully with its past, the former Italy forward is happy to marvel at the two greats of this generation.
"I really preferred the football of a long time ago. Today it is just crazy," he said at the Dubai International Sports Conference.
"Football has deeply changed between my time and now. I prefer the romantic football of before, now it is all about business.
"There are players like Ronaldo and Neymar, but Neymar is an example of this big price, it is too much to pay €250m for a player. This goes beyond reality.
"But Messi is number one, just don't tell Cristiano!"
Vuzbcmny
146
thisan is telling true look every body support this man
Risky10
118
Hahaha "Just don't tell Ronaldo"..Totti is funny😂😂.If Ronaldo hear this one,hmm.
LM500
113
King Lionel Messi is Greatest ... no one come close to Messi
MoussaDiallo
108
messi: top scorer,top playmaker.(GOAT)
AlR7
68
messi's best in winning matches ron's best in taking the trophies tgrough winnings[CR7][CR7]
soulnorsy
57
who is dat idiot called Totti? is he not da one who was in roma team which was hammered by United by 7 goals and ronaldo scored in dat game? how many champion league trophies do totti have through out his career if i may ask? how many clubs did he play for? totti u a just a rotten idiot
A 2006 FIFA World Cup winner and UEFA Euro 2000 finalist with Italy , Totti was selected in the All-Star team for both tournaments; he also represented his country at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 . He also won several individual awards, notably the 2007 European Golden Shoe and the Golden Foot . In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players as selected by Pelé , as part of FIFA 's centenary celebrations. In 2011, Totti was recognised by IFFHS as the most popular footballer in Europe. In November 2014, Totti extended his record as the oldest goalscorer in UEFA Champions League history, aged 38 years and 59 days.
Chiku Leo
50
Really Messi is number one
Brevis
26
Messi ends 2017 as the 2nd best top-scorer in the world (54 goals), but 2 weeks ago he won the 'IFFHS best playmaker award' for the third time in a row. How in the world is that possible? You are better in controlling the game than Modric, Kroos, Iniesta, Verratti and Pogba but at the same time score more than pure goal machines like Ronaldo, Cavani, Kane and Lewandowski. What we are seeing right now is a football genius.