Roy Keane left out Lionel Messi and Pele when naming the three greatest players in football history

Manchester United legend Roy Keane left out the likes of Lionel Messi and Pele when it came to naming his top three players in football history.

Keane scored 51 goals in 480 appearances for United as he captained the Old Trafford club to one of its greatest eras of success under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Keane won seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League as part of the Treble won in 1999.

Throughout his career for club and country, Keane came up against some of the best talents the game has produced and once named his favourite three players in Premier League history, in his view.

Keane named former United attackers Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney among the trio, with the former Republic of Ireland international sharing a dressing room at Old Trafford with both players in the early stages of both of their careers after moves to United from Sporting and Everton respectively.

And Keane also pinpointed Arsenal legend Thierry Henry as the third player to make his list from the Premier League era.

He told Sky Sports: "I've certainly gone with Ronaldo, I was looking at players in the Premier League and I've gone Ronaldo, Rooney and Thierry Henry.

"They're the three that I thought were brilliant players."

Roy Keane and Zinedine Zidane. (Image: Getty)

But then Keane was asked by Jamie Carragher to widen it to not just the Premier League but to players from all time football history - and neither Pele nor Messi were mentioned.

Instead, Keane chose Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane.

He said: "The players I would go with would be Maradona - Maradona would have to be up there.

"Ronaldo and I'd probably say Zidane has to be up there. I thought he was amazing.

"I was lucky enough to play against him - brilliant player, nasty, scored a goal, won the big prizes, hard to beat that."

Keane came up against Zidane first hand at club level when United faced Juventus and Real Madrid, as well as on the international stage when the Republic of Ireland took on France.

Ronaldo has five Ballon d'Ors to his name, league titles won in England, Italy and Spain and claimed five Champions League crowns, while the late Maradona inspired Argentina to the 1986 World Cup triumph.

The late Pele won three World Cups with Brazil, while Messi has claimed the Ballon d'Or eight times after winning countless trophies with Barcelona, and emulated Maradona when he won the World Cup himself in 2022.