Former Argentina international Angel Di Maria has named Lionel Messi as the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T) ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. The 36-year-old is one of a handful of players who have shared the dressing room with both football greats.
Di Maria and Messi have been teammates at both club and international level. They first played together during the 2008 Olympics Men’s Football event where Argentina won the gold medal. The two played together for La Albiceleste for 16 years and shared the same dressing room for one season at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Meanwhile, the Benfica forward played alongside Ronaldo for four years during his stint with Real Madrid. Speaking recently on DSportsRadio (via Albiceleste Talk on X), Di Maria highlighted why Lionel Messi is the greatest of all time. He said:
“I only see Messi as the greatest of all time, it’s impossible to reach higher than that. Everyone else is far below him.”
“Having trained and played with him, seeing every training session, all his preparation, how much he wants to win, how he doesn’t like to miss a pass… it’s everything in general. It’s hard to put into words, but I think Leo gives you all of that. He gives you what one wants to be as a player,” Di Maria added.
Di Maria shared the pitch with Messi 142 times, recording 16 joint goal contributions. Additionally, they won two Copa Americas and the 2022 FIFA World Cup together.
Meanwhile, he played with Cristiano Ronaldo on 166 occasions, registering 28 joint goals involvements and winning one LaLiga title and the Champions League for Real Madrid.
Louis Saha claims Cristiano Ronaldo would score more goals than Lionel Messi in the MLS
Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha believes Cristiano Ronaldo would outscore his rival Lionel Messi in the Major Soccer League (MLS). He claimed that the Portuguese legend still has the zeal to score more goals and break records, unlike the Argentine, who is relaxed on the pitch.
“Ronaldo would’ve scored more goals in MLS than Messi has because Messi scored 20 with so many quality players around him. As I’ve said before, I don’t think that Ronaldo needs to have the same quality around him to score as many goals, when he scores 30 goals in a season that isn’t enough for him, wherever he is playing,” Saha said (via GOAL).
“He wouldn’t be happy with 20 goals in the league and we saw last year that he scored 35 goals in the league and 50 in all competitions. Messi is a different player now, he’s not out there to break records and score more goals, he is relaxed on the pitch. Ronaldo is still looking to break records,” he added.
Lionel Messi has 34 goals and 18 assists in 39 games for Inter Miami, while Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 74 goals and provided 18 assists in 83 appearances for Al-Nassr.