{"id":19618,"date":"2026-01-07T23:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T23:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/07\/manchester-united-news-rio-ferdinand-chose-cristiano-ronaldo-over-leo-messi-but-with-conditions\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T23:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T23:40:23","slug":"manchester-united-news-rio-ferdinand-chose-cristiano-ronaldo-over-leo-messi-but-with-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/07\/manchester-united-news-rio-ferdinand-chose-cristiano-ronaldo-over-leo-messi-but-with-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United News: Rio Ferdinand chose Cristiano Ronaldo over Leo Messi, but with conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"capital-letter\">S<\/span>Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have played against each other since the beginning of their respective footballing careers, sparking a debate that continues to divide opinion as to who is the better player. <\/p>\n<p>But former teammates of the Portuguese captain at Manchester United took a risk and chose his favorite. His answer wasn&#8217;t surprising, but he did make one condition clear. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ue-c-article__summary\">\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-dailymotion\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Neymar shows off his luxury toys while realizing his million dollar dream<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">Rio Ferdinand chose Cristiano over Messi<\/h2>\n<p>The former England defender shared a dressing room with current captain Al Nasr during his first spell at the Red Devils from 2003 to 2009. Both sides won numerous titles, including the Premier League and Champions League in 2008. <\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Ferdinand also played against Lionel Messi when the Argentine player wore Barcelona colors. For this reason, Rio revealed his criteria for choosing between the two legends when asked about his preference among the various players in an interview with Saudi media&#8217;s Tama\u00f1a. He initially chose Kylian Mbapp over Robert Lewandowski, Vinicius Junior, Raphinha, Bellingham or Lamine Yamal, but he was leaning towards Benzema over the French striker and Luis Suarez. Messi then defeated Karim and Gareth Bale. <\/p>\n<p>However, Leo will face CR7, and although the 47-year-old former player chose one of them, he clarified: &#8220;It depends on the team, but for one match I would choose Cristiano.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Even if he chooses the Portuguese, Ferdinand does not deny the influence the Argentine captain has had on football. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, in 2021, Rio advised in a conversation with TNT Sports that instead of pitting or comparing the two, they should &#8220;just have fun.&#8221; However, he made a clear distinction between the two, saying, &#8220;Messi likes to be involved in the game and I think he can make the last pass, but he also has an incredible number of goals. And Cristiano is just obsessed with being the one who scores goals and decides the match.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The truth is, while CR7 is fighting to reach 1,000 goals and become the only player to do so in soccer history (he needs 42 more goals to reach that goal), Lionel is the player with the most assists in the history of the sport, with 407 in total. <\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, one thing is certain: After 20 years, despite the numbers, goals, assists and titles of both legends, soccer&#8217;s greatest rivalry is far from over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/manchester-united\/2026\/01\/07\/695eb7a3e2704ece298b45b3.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SLionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have played against each other since the beginning of their respective footballing careers, sparking a debate that continues to divide opinion as to who is the better player. But former teammates of the Portuguese captain at Manchester United took a risk and chose his favorite. His answer wasn&#8217;t surprising, but<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Manchester United News: Rio Ferdinand chose Cristiano Ronaldo over Leo Messi, but with conditions - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/07\/manchester-united-news-rio-ferdinand-chose-cristiano-ronaldo-over-leo-messi-but-with-conditions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Manchester United News: Rio Ferdinand chose Cristiano Ronaldo over Leo Messi, but with conditions - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SLionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have played against each other since the beginning of their respective footballing careers, sparking a debate that continues to divide opinion as to who is the better player. 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