WDeciding who is the best soccer player of all time is difficult and unlikely to reach a consensus, but Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are definitely on the list.
But while it’s difficult for fans to choose between the two, it’s even more so for players who were teammates with both. Nevertheless, the former Real Madrid player chose one of them, but to the surprise of many, it was not the Portuguese player.
CR7’s former teammate likes Messi
The current captain of Al Nasr joined Real Madrid on July 6, 2009 and played for nine excellent seasons (2009-2018).
There he not only continued to improve his professional career, but also led his team to four Champions League titles, three Club World Cups, three European Super Cups, two Spanish Super Cups, two La Liga titles and two Copa del Rey titles. Individually, he won the Ballon d’Or four times, the Golden Boot three times and FIFA’s “The Best” award twice.
Upon his arrival, he shared a dressing room with Argentine Ezequiel Garay from 2009 to 2011. There he played 31 games and scored one goal. He was also the 2011 Copa del Rey champion.
However, by that time, Messi was already a prominent figure in the Argentina national team, and the name of the defender was already echoing in the hallways. He made his debut in 2007 and was called up again to play alongside Leo in 2011. During his career (2007-2015), he played 32 games and finished runner-up in tournaments such as the 2014 World Cup and the 2015 Copa Amrica.
Garay, who shared the field with both stars, was asked in an interview on DAZN if Cristiano was the best footballer he has ever played with, and his answer was a clear and emphatic “no.”
“So how would you rank him?” they argued. “Second place, Leo first and Cristiano second, definitely,” Garay was quoted as saying by Boravip newspaper. “I think they’re two very different players, but the one that surprised me the most was Leo. I’ve played with both of them and I’ve been lucky enough to play with them, but Leo is in a different league.”
However, despite the fact that the defender considers Lionel to be CR7 or higher, he did not fail to praise Lionel and highlight the 41-year-old Portuguese’s hard work and professionalism: “He is the first to arrive at 6 in the morning and the last to leave. He is a star. He does his routines, his training, his physicality, everything to always be at his best.”
In 2011, Garay left Real Madrid and headed to Benfica in search of continuity that he could not find at Santiago Bernab. Cristiano remained at the club until 2018, becoming the club’s all-time top scorer and a symbol for the club’s fans.
