It’s probably one of the most common questions in the world by now : Who between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is the better player. So common , that even Indian football team captain Suni Chhetri had to settle it once for all so that he doesn’t get asked again. Chhetri, we know , is the second highest active international goal scorer , sandwiched between Ronaldo and Messi.
“Who is better? I think both Messi and Ronaldo are amazing but if you ask who is my favourite, it will be Messi for me. But if you need a role model, I would say Cristiano Ronaldo would be a better pick,” Chhetri said in a live video on Instagram.
Chhetri went on to explain why he picked Ronaldo as a role model over Messi – “Messi is more like a God gift,” Chhetri said.
“Some of things he (Messi) does, it is so difficult to learn. He does them so effortlessly. With Cristiano, there’s so much of hard work and if you see his graph every year, there’s so much to learn.
“For example, when he was younger, you would see him on the left doing those step-overs but now he takes less touches at the ball, he would pass the ball on the wing and then run into the box. And his running is so good, it’s so tough to mark him.
“His header, his finishing from both left and right – it’s just brilliant. He takes less time on ball now but he is as good as ever and so devastating.”
Among a lot of other comparison questions Chhetri’s fans had asked, one was ‘Salah or Neymar – who would the Indian forward pick?’
“Salah or Neymar? Salah’s form has been so good for the past two-three years. But if I have to pick, I’ll pick Neymar, yes.