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The coach of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has put an end to the debate of who is the GOAT in football. He was asked to choose between Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Cristiano Ronaldo as he quickly choose La Pulga to be the greatest of all time. Not just this, Arteta even defended his case and claimed that Messi has always and undeniably been ahead of the other stars.
What did Mikel Arteta say about Lionel Messi?
During an interview with Sky Sports back in 2024, Arteta was asked the question that 'who is your favorite footballer to watch?'.
It's always been Messi. I cannot deny it. For me and my three sons, it's exactly the same. Something that we have been really lucky to have the opportunity for that many years to experience, in my opinion, the best player of all time, Arteta responded va GiveMeSport.
Not just this, he was even asked whether Lionel Messi was better than Ronaldo and Maradona.
For me, he has to be. Because the comparison of how much I watch of Messi and the others, the difference is huge. So for me, it has to be him, Arteta added.
The footballing community has always had mixed opinions of who is the greatest player in the sport. In the previous decades, many people use to call Diego Maradona as the greatest but today's time, the rivalry is between Messi and Ronaldo.
Maradona was deemed as the greatest because of his contribution to the success of both his club and country. Since mid-2005 to date, Messi and CR7 have changed the dynamics of world football and what they have achieved on the field plays a major role in that.
However, ranking these three great players on the merit of how many Ballon d'Or titles they have achieved in their career, Messi tops the list with eight while Ronaldo has managed to win only five. However, Diego Maradona was never able to win the prestigious award throughout his playing days.
Ricardo Kaka choses between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
The former AC Milan legend Ricardo Kaka once revealed that Lionel Messi is a 'genius and pure talent'. The former Real Madrid midfielder picked La Pulga ahead of his teammate, who he claimed is 'really amazing'.
During a live Q&A session via FIFA's handle on Instagram in 2020, Kaka was asked to pick between Messi and Ronaldo.
I played with Cristiano and he’s really amazing, but I’ll go with Messi, He’s a genius, a pure talent. The way he plays is incredible. Cristiano is a machine. It’s not just the way he’s strong, powerful and fast; he’s strong mentally, Kaka said via Caught Offside.
He always wants to win and play. To be the best. For me, that’s the most incredible thing he has. In the history of sport, they [Messi and Cristiano] are definitely in the top five. We are very lucky to have been able to see both of them, Kaka added.
During his illustrious footballing career, Lionel Messi has amassed 755 goals and 360 assists from the 932 matches that he has played in. On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo has 794 goals and 242 assists in the 1054 club career games. Lionel Messi is currently playing with Inter Miami and Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Al-Nassr.
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