'He's Inimitable': Football Guru Van Basten Explains the Difference Between Messi and Ronaldo

As Portuguese football ace Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinian football star Lionel Messi continue to dazzle the world with their sports exploits, Dutch football manager and famous ex-footballer Marcel van Basten has recently offered his own opinion on which one of the two is better.

During an interview with Corriere della Serra, van Basten stated that while Ronaldo is a "great player", people who believe that he’s stronger than Messi simply "don’t understand football".

"Messi is unique. Inimitable and unrepeatable", he said, adding that football geniuses like Messi come only once "every fifty years".

Having won some 11 Ballon d’Or awards between them, Messi and Ronaldo are widely regarded as among the best, if not the best, football players of their generations.

The two footballers competed against each other for years for the title of the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) player, especially when both were playing in Spain's La Liga, taking centre stage in sports fans' heated debates.