Stephen Ireland doesn't think that Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo ever got the best of him, doubling down on his opinions about other greats of the game.
Ireland isn't a footballer that most would have had too many thoughts about in the past few years, with his last club being Bolton Wanderers, who he left in 2018 having not played a game for them.
However, the former Manchester City midfielder certainly reminded everyone about himself when a video of the 36-year-old went viral on Tuesday.
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In it, Ireland claimed that Premier League greats Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard never got the better of him during their playing days.
Fans called him 'deluded' and others quickly went about dispelling the claims, with Ireland subbed off after an hour of a game against Chelsea in which Lampard got two assists, and another pointing out he never beat Gerrard in six attempts.
Certainly no one was really buying the hubris from the former midfielder, and some went as far as claiming that he 'thought he was Ronaldo.'
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Well that's interesting, because now the former Stoke City player, who also said a current player has his poster on their wall, has claimed that he never lost a game to Ronaldo and Messi wasn't up to much when they faced off against each other.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Ireland said, "I've played against Barcelona for Man City in pre season friendly. Messi played, and he wasn't good, and we won the game. I can't say Messi is the best player I've played against, because my experience in that game is he wasn't good.
"And my point was, as much as these lads [Gerrard, Lampard, Paul Scholes] were unbelievable, and legends of the game, and rightly so, when I played against them personally, I never got into the changing room and thought "wow, they were incredible."
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"You know I always felt like I competed well enough with them, in the moment, in that game.
"Of course over the state of their careers, compared to mine, you can't even compare, it's day and night of course. But in terms of in those games, me against them, collectively not just individually...
"You know, I played against Ronaldo five times, City against United, I think he got sent off in two of them, and I won every single game against him, so it's hard for me to say Ronaldo is the hardest player I've ever played against, so I can only go on the day against me.
"Hence why I said [Cesc] Fabregas, when I played against him, very good, [Eden] Hazard, every time, very very good, so that's my opinion based on that question."
It literally took me less than a minute to note that, between 2005 and 2009, when the pair played for their respective Manchester teams, Ronaldo got the better of Ireland on four occasions.
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On the game against Messi, a City fan did my research for me, commenting, "I attended that pre season friendly in Barcelona and aside from a Petrov breakaway goal, the ball never left our penalty area. I'd actually forgotten that Ireland played, but Messi was fantastic."
"Need to check he isn’t drunk for these interviews, to actually say it about Messi and ronaldo is another level," said another.
A third joked, "Made for TalkSport. Perhaps him and O’Hara on late nights."
"It gets worse and worse with every new Stephen Ireland video," replied a fourth.
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And a fifth supporter summed it up perfectly, simply stating, "Drop the shovel and step away from the hole."
Featured Image Credit: talkSPORT/TikTokTopics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Manchester City, Fan Reactions
