One would imagine Sergio Ramos is one of the best placed players to pick between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, having played alongside both throughout his legendary career
Messi and Ramos frequently came to blows in the El Classico (Image: Getty Images)
Paris Saint-Germain defender Sergio Ramos believes Lionel Messi is the “best player football has ever produced” despite his previous experience playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Real Madrid legend is one of the very few players to have played alongside both of the football legends in his career. Not so long ago, Ramos was hitting Messi with some hefty challenges while feeding passes into the feet of Ronaldo during Los Blancos’ iconic clashes against Barcelona.
Ramos also played with Ronaldo when the Portuguese ace was at the peak of his powers in the Spanish capital. Yet, despite the fact him and Messi are both in their twilight years, Ramos thinks his teammate is the best ever.
“There was suffering for several years playing against Messi,” the 36-year-old told PSG TV, ” I am now enjoying him.
“He is the best player football has ever produced.” While he has previously spoken glowingly about Ronaldo, Ramos has never directly said the five-time Ballon d’Or winner is the best to ever play the game.
In 2012, Ramos said Ronaldo was the “best player in the world” for that campaign, but has never taken the extra step to say he is the greatest of all time. When talking to Telefoot in 2018 Ramos said, “Our number seven is a striker like we have never seen before.
Ramos played alongside Ronaldo for nine seasons (Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The sight of Messi and Ramos playing together will still be strange for most fans
“He is already a legend and will be recognised as one of the best players in the history of football. Cristiano Ronaldo has a very important role in the team and everyone respects it.”
Fast forward to the present day, Ronaldo is now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia after his contract was torn up by Manchester United. He scored his first competitive goal for his new side Al Nassr in a dramatic 2-2 draw against Al Fateh.
Meanwhile Messi has contributed 14 goals and 14 assists in 23 appearances for PSG this season.
Al-Nassr fans emphatically pick sides after manager criticised Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo left it late to score his first goal for Al-Nassr, but finally got off the mark with his penalty in added-on time earning his new side a 2-2 draw vs Al-Fateh
Al-Nassr fans are piling the pressure on manager Rudi Garcia after they failed to win for the second time in succession.
The Frenchman was appointed as head coach of the Saudi giants in June of last year and is still in his first season in charge. He has guided Al-Nassr to the top of the Pro League, but fans understandably expected a stark improvement in performance in recent weeks.
That was due to the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, who stunned the footballing world by leaving Europe after his Manchester United exit was confirmed. The 37-year-old was expected to dominate what is a significantly weaker league than he has previously played in.
However, under Garcia, Ronaldo failed to score in his opening two appearances, with his second coming in their Saudi State Cup exit to Al-Ittihad last week. Following that defeat, Garcia levelled some criticism at the Portuguese superstar and said there were issues that needed to be ironed out.
“One of the things that changed the course of the match was Cristiano’s missed opportunity in the first half,” the boss assessed after the game.
He added: “It is very important that the players play normally and don’t always try to give Cristiano the ball. I told them they had to make the right decisions on the pitch. Obviously, when Cristiano or Anderson Talisca are alone and ask for the ball, we have to give them the ball. These two players are capable of making a difference.
“I think sometimes we had good crossing positions, but there were not enough people in the box, sometimes not Ronaldo or Talisca. We have to work on it, have one of them in the area and maybe the other will play outside the area.”
Al-Nassr boss Rudi Garcia is facing criticism after another poor result ( Image: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
But despite Garcia’s frank assessment, Al-Nassr struggled again against Al-Fateh on Friday night, falling behind twice in the 2-2 draw. Ronaldo looked set to endure another frustrating afternoon, after having a goal disallowed, missing another gilt-edged chance and hitting the crossbar.
But with the game into added-on time, he was given a golden opportunity to open his account when Al-Nassr were awarded a penalty. Anderson Talisca, who scored and was later sent off, held the ball and appeared to be ready to take the spot-kick, before Ronaldo took over responsibilities.
And he coolly took his chance to score his first competitive goal for the club, posting on social media after the full-time whistle: “Happy to have scored my first goal in the Saudi league and great effort by whole team to achieve an important draw in a very difficult match!”
Ronaldo posted on social media shortly after the full-time whistle
Garcia also said how happy he was for Ronaldo to score his first goal, but fans on social media were more focused on the coach’s own performance. One supporter said: “You’re not doing anything, Tali saves you in every match, and now he is out. Let’s see how you will save yourself without him on the next one! DO YOUR WORK”
Source: dailystar.co.uk; mirror.co.uk
