Since the world championship title at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, Lionel Messi has often not been able to convince athletically.Bild: imago/pa images
Football International
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – the two supposedly best footballers of all time have been quiet in recent months. Ronaldo, who is in the autumn of his career, has joined Al-Nassr in the Saudi Arabian league. The championship there arouses little fan and media interest in Europe.
Lionel Messi is also currently under the radar of the football public. Outside of France, the Paris Saint-Germain player often only makes headlines when his own supporters boo him again. Since his move two years ago, the Argentine has never really lived up to the high expectations of Parisian fans.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have shaped football like few before them.Image: imago images / ZUMA Press / imago sport photo service
Messi and Ronaldo have been ousted from the top
The heyday of Ronaldo and Messi is over, now players like Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappé are in the spotlight instead of them. But the question of who was actually better, Messi or Ronaldo, still worries many fans.
A companion and friend of Lionel Messi has now once again clearly intervened in this discussion. Former national team colleague Sergio Agüero is a close friend of Messi and is clearly on his side in the GOAT debate.
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During a live stream on Twitch, Agüero, who retired at the end of 2021 due to heart problems, watched highlight videos of Ronaldo and Messi. If the ex-striker has his way, Messi’s goals are much more important than Ronaldo’s. “How many free-kick goals are shown there? Of the top 20 goals, 15 were free-kicks,” he says of Ronaldo. Then the comparison: “In Messi’s top 20 goals, he dribbled past five players 15 times,” explains Aguero.
Sergio Aguero: Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals were ‘pure luck’
Ronaldo’s free-kick hits are nothing special, he then explains. “Look where he scores from. Come on, all those free-kick goals are pure luck,” said Aguero. Even Ronaldo’s 35-metre goal for Manchester United against FC Porto, which won Goal of the Year in 2009, was happy. “It was a mistake by the goalkeeper,” Agüero tells his viewers.
Messi’s free-kick, on the other hand, was much better. “Messi’s all go in the corner. I mean, Raúl scored better goals (than Ronaldo, ed.), and Benzema scored better goals too,” is Agüero’s scathing conclusion.
