Even Cristiano Ronaldo admitted Lionel Messi is the greatest player he's ever seen

The debate might rage on for some fans, but even Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that Lionel Messi is the greatest player he's seen.

For many people the conversation is already over, for others it might depend on whether Messi can lead Argentina to World Cup glory on Sunday.

However, some people still think there's an argument to be made that Ronaldo is the greatest footballer of all time, and others don't even think there's a counter argument against it.

Of course, the Portugal star's number one suck up and cheerleader Piers Morgan is amongst those who inexcusably still picks the 37-year-old.

It's no surprise that the man who gave Ronaldo the chance to give an interview that eventually led to his departure from Manchester United still backs the forward.

It wasn't actually the first time that the former News of the World editor had sat down with the five time Ballon d'Or winner for an on screen chat.

Morgan initially interviewed him in 2019, leading to several years of him often showing off on social media that he'd been in contact with his friend.

Now the 57-year-old has revealed that, following that conversation, Ronaldo actually admitted Messi was the greatest player he'd watched.

"I had a very interesting conversation with Cristiano, we had dinner after I first interviewed him three years ago, it was a really great conversation and I really like him as a person," the journalist told talkSPORT.

"He was incredibly respectful about Messi and I said to him, ‘Who’s the best player you’ve ever seen?’

"He said, ‘Messi, but you’re asking the wrong question, you’re not asking me who is the best player…’, because, of course, he has never seen himself play live.

"So that made me laugh."

Even Ronaldo enjoys watching Messi. Image: Alamy

At the tournament in Qatar, Ronaldo became the first man to score in five World Cups in-a-row, when he scored a penalty in the win over Ghana, when he was accused of cheating to win it.

However, he was dropped for the knockout games against Switzerland and Morocco and only got on as a substitute in both games.

Failing to score in the matches meant he finished his World Cup career with zero goals in any knockout games, a record he had shared with Messi.

However, the PSG forward has now scored in the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals, as he'd led his country to within 90 minutes of a third World Cup.

However, that's not enough to earn him the title as even greatest Argentinian according to Morgan, who added, "One World Cup does not a GOAT make. Messi hasn’t even won it yet!," somehow turning a blind eye to his own man's failures.

"...I’ve been watching a lot of the Messi fan-boying and fan-girling during the World Cup, and I’ve been laughing. OK, he’s having a good World Cup, but it’s the first one he’s turned up for!" (Honestly Morgan complaining about 'fan-boying' is hilarious.)

"Diego Maradona, to me, is the greatest Argentine to ever play the game – Messi doesn’t even get that GOAT title."

Most football fans will be disappointed when both men eventually hang up their boots, but if it stops Morgan talking about his favourite for a while then it might not be that bad.