'He's just the best' - Frank Lampard makes his pick between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as best competitor

Lampard picks Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo (Source: Twitter)

The debate over Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, dubbed the ‘GOAT debate’ in popular culture, was somewhat settled last year with Messi’s World Cup triumph with Argentina. Cristiano’s subsequent move to the Saudi-Pro League club, Al Nassar, further helped the arguments in favour of the PSG man. In a similar light, old comments of a Premier League great from an interview dating back to 2021 paint an exciting picture.

While talking to Coral via Daily Star, Chelsea Legend Frank Lampard was asked to name the fiercest competitor he had faced during his playing years. Interestingly, Lampard had faced Cristiano during his formative years at Old Trafford, but he didn’t mention the Portuguese among his best opponents. Instead, he named Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho as his top 2 competitors.

Lampard also remarked that he thinks Messi is the best player to have graced the game. Hence, he is a natural pick for him. “There’s two that I would say – one is Messi because I think he’s just the best,” he said.

Frank Lampard names Brazilian legend Ronaldinho as his second biggest competitor

Talking about his second greatest rival, the ex-Chelsea player mentioned that he realized how good the Brazilian was when the London Club visited Camp Nou in the 2004/05 Champions League for a Round of 16 clash. Interestingly, the Blues went on to win the Round of 16 clash 5-4 on aggregate despite losing the first leg 2-1 at the home of the Catalans.

“The other one is Ronaldinho because, in 2005, we went to the Nou Camp; it was my first encounter of a player on a different planet. Him an Eto’o on that day, but particularly Ronaldinho’s movements, I was like, wow, this is different,” the former Everton boss added.

Lampard explained why he didn’t pick Cristiano among his picks for the greatest players he had played against. “I didn’t play Ronaldo at his peak. I played him at Manchester United, and he was getting towards it, but not in those years at Madrid, where he was just ridiculous,” the 44-year-old added.