Cristiano Ronaldo has heaped praises on his long-time rival Lionel Messi, describing the Argentinian as an amazing player.
Between 2008 to 2021, Ronaldo and Messi won the Ballon d'Or 12 times. Messi has won the award seven times, compared to Ronaldo's five victories but there is no doubt there is huge mutual respect between the pair.
Ronaldo has been making headlines over the past week after the release of his bombshell interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, where he slammed the current state of the club, along with heavily criticising Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and former teammates including Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney.
In the second part of the interview, Ronaldo discussed other several wide-ranging issues, including the topic of Messi.
'Amazing player, he is magic, top,' Ronaldo said.
'As a person, we share the stage 16 years, imagine, 16 years we share. So, I have great relationship with him.
'I'm not a friend of him in terms of, what I mean friend is the guy who was with you in your house, speaking on the phone, no, but it's like a team-mate.
'He's a guy that I really respect the way he always speaks about me. Even his wife or and my girlfriend, they always respect and they're from Argentina.
'My girlfriend is from Argentina. So good. What I am going to say about Messi? A great guy who does great things for football.
'Probably the best player I've ever seen (excluding myself). Maybe Zidane. That I play and fight with, yes.'
Both Messi and Ronaldo have been linked with a move to Inter Miami - the MLS franchise that David Beckham co-owns and who are managed by Phil Neville.
And Ronaldo also joked that if they played together on the same team, they would 'sell a lot of shirts'.