Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi snubbed as Iker Casillas picks 'best player' of all time

Iker Casillas played with and against some of the greatest players of all time during Real Madrid's clashes with Barcelona - but the retired goalkeeper shunned both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when it came to selecting his personal best.

Casillas is best known for his time as the Real Madrid number one, playing 725 games for Los Blancos between 1999 and 2015.

His time at the Santiago Bernabeu yielded five La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey crowns, four Supercopa de Espana triumphs and the Champions League trophy on three occasions.

He left Real in 2015 and moved to FC Porto, whom he represented and won the Portuguese top flight before hanging up his gloves in 2020.

Casillas also sits second in the all-time caps list for Spain with 167 appearances for his country between 2000 and 2016, with only former team-mate at both club and international level Sergio Ramos above him in the standings.

Casillas was a member of Spain's golden generation that also included the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique and David Villa, winning the European Championships in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in 2010.

Being a Real Madrid legend, Casillas came up against Barcelona every season in El Clasico in what is often seen as the biggest club game in world football.

Iker Casillas. (Image: Getty)

And Casillas was recently asked by GOAL who he feels is the best player out of those two great teams in a knockout system.

Casillas played with Ronaldo following the attacker's move from Manchester United for a then world record £80m in 2009, and of course took on Messi with the Argentine coming through the ranks at Barcelona.

But the goalkeeper did not select either player as the best when it was put to him and instead went for another all-time great.

Casillas chose Raul over Samuel Eto'o, before the Brazilian Ronaldo took centre stage in his selections.

R9 was picked over Raul, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Michael Owen, Romario, David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Gareth Bale, Pedro, Guti, Rivaldo and Karim Benzema.

However, Casillas selected Zinedine Zidane over Ronaldo eventually, and declared 'I won't move'.

But then Diego Maradona came up and Casillas chose the late Argentina legend - who represented Barca between 1982 and 1984 - over both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Maradona won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, before spending the best years of his playing career at Italian side Napoli where he won two Serie A titles and the Coppa Italia.

And his inspirational performances helped Argentina win the 1986 World Cup, which also included the infamous 'Hand of God goal'.