Jose Mourinho didn't hesitate when asked to pick between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the GOAT debate

Jose Mourinho gave an interesting response when asked to choose between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Mourinho managed Ronaldo during his time at Real Madrid, where he went on to score a record-breaking 450 goals across nine seasons.

But when he was calling the shots at the Santiago Bernabeu, it was in the thick of the El Clasico rivalry with Barcelona.

Messi was enemy number one for Mourinho given the amount of times he terrorised Real, yet the Portuguese boss had his own take on the GOAT debate involving the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and Ronaldo.

In fact, the 61-year-old could not separate them and believes they "put the bar really high" through their incredible achievements.

“I think they are lucky and unlucky to be in the same generation," he said on On the Touchline with Jose Mourinho’ for RT.

"They are lucky because they can compete against each other.

“They look to each other in a positive way and get extra motivation. If there was only one of them, they would have ten Golden Boots.”

Mourinho added “Now, I think they have put the bar really high. And you have the players coming behind, who I like to call the 'little monsters.'

“The bar has to be high, so it has to be incredible motivation for Neymar, [Kylian] Mbappé and [Antoine] Griezmann. Unfortunately, Cristiano and Messi will not last forever.”

Image: Getty

Incidentally, Mourinho once left out Ronaldo when picking the best three players in football history - instead name-dropping Messi, Pele and Diego Maradona.

And the former Manchester United and Chelsea also opted for Messi in a Q&A activity this year when Rio Ferdinand asked him about the player he wished he had coached.

"Of course I would say the little guy," Mourinho said in the TNT Sports segment.

"But the little guy was not coachable. But I have to say that in our generation, he was the best player."