One of Cristiano Ronaldo’s former teammates has explained why he thinks the Portuguese is not as good as Lionel Messi.
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Kieran Richardson came up through United’s academy ranks and spent six years playing for the Red Devils before moving on to secure regular game time elsewhere.
During his time at Old Trafford, the former England international shared the pitch with Ronaldo on 43 occasions, as per Transfermarkt, but has admitted that his long-time rival Messi is a better player than the Portuguese icon.
"They're both the GOATs," the 38-year-old said on the Steven Sullery Podcast.
"But if I had to pick one, then I have to pick Messi, even though I know Ronaldo, I've played with Ronaldo, I love Ronaldo.
"When they pass away, they'll still be talked about forever, but just because Messi got that World Cup.
"It's a massive thing having that World Cup, because even before Messi had the World Cup, everyone was saying, "yeah, but he hasn't won it yet".
"He can't be the best of all time because [Diego] Maradona won it, Pele won it.
"Now there is no question, he's won the pinnacle any footballer would want to win. Even though they get their own accolades, World Player of the Year so many times, but as a footballer, when you're thinking as a kid, you want to win a World Cup. That's all you want to win."
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Richardson broke into Sir Alex Ferguson’s first-team shortly after Ronaldo’s arrival from Sporting Lisbon, but, after a bright start to life in a United jersey, his performances began to dwindle as he watched the Madeira native ascend to astronomical heights.
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