On May 28, during an interview on Sky Sports , when asked by former teammate Gary Neville who GOAT (short for the phrase Greatest Player of All Time) is, Rooney replied: “I think Messi. He is the best player of all time. “They criticized me.” A lot when I said that, a lot of people asked me: ‘Why do you say that? It has to be Ronaldo’, or those are the two best players of all time. But for me, Messi is more refined.

Rooney played with Ronaldo at Man Utd in the period 2004-2009. Together they won a Champions League and three Premier Leagues. Although he always respects his former teammate, the former England striker repeatedly stated that Messi is number one.

While still playing, Rooney, the number one goalscorer in Manchester United history, twice faced Messi in the Champions League final in 2009 and 2011. On both occasions, Rooney failed and scored only one goal. On the contrary, Messi scored in every game, helping Barça beat Manchester United 2-0 and 3-1 respectively. Ronaldo appeared in the 2009 final, before moving to Real Madrid.

Rooney said one of his dreams that did not come true was playing with Zinedine Zidane, a former midfielder who retired in 2006. Zidane won the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000 with France and the 2022 Champions League with Real Madrid. “Messi is the best player of all time, but playing with Zidane would be great,” he added. “Zidane looks very fresh, calm, plays with both feet, scores goals and assists.”

Ronaldo is 39 years old, but he continues to break scoring records with Al Nassr and the Portuguese national team. Messi also left the European playing field and moved to Inter Miami when he was about 37 years old. Rooney is retiring from 2021 and is trying his luck as a coach. The famous 38-year-old player has just agreed to manage the English first division team, Plymouth. Previously, he worked at Derby County (UK), DC United (USA) and Birmingham City (UK).

Messi holds the record of winning eight Ballon d’Ors, six European Golden Boots and 44 team titles. One of them is the 2022 World Cup, where the Argentine captain scored seven goals, gave three assists and won the Best Player award. Meanwhile, Ronaldo has five Ballon d’Ors, four European Golden Boots and 32 collective titles.