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Wayne Rooney has risked reigniting the fierce Cristiano Ronaldo versus Lionel Messi debate along with his newest feedback on the long-standing query.
The previous Manchester United striker has beforehand described Messi as the very best footballer of all time. In 2012, Rooney tweeted: “Messi is a joke. For me the very best ever.”
This was then adopted up a decade later, with Rooney contending “Nothing has modified” after the Argentinian ahead led his nation to victory on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Englishman’s newest contribution has now surfaced, after an look on a YouTube podcast yesterday.
Chatting with Lyés and CultureCams on a variety of subjects, Rooney revealed Ronaldo’s obsession with scoring targets was a transparent level of distinction along with his Argentine adversary.
“So for example, Cristiano Ronaldo, his mindset is targets,” Rooney mentioned. “He doesn’t care about the rest, it’s targets, that’s all he desires.”
868 profession targets so far would point out Ronaldo has been reasonably profitable in attaining this aim of scoring targets. However Rooney believes it’s not one shared by Messi.
“Whereas you take a look at Messi, he desires to play a bit extra – precisely like myself,” Rooney contended. The 38-year-old revealed this want “to play” is one which probably hindered his productiveness on the pitch, regardless of it being one of many defining options of his play model.
“I noticed one thing that Gary Neville mentioned just lately, that Alex Ferguson at all times used to have a go at me for coming too deep, however it was as a result of I needed to play soccer. And I might have been a bit extra egocentric and stayed up prime, and possibly scored a number of extra targets, however I needed to play,” Rooney acknowledged.
As per Transfermarkt, over the course of Messi’s membership profession, he has scored 715 targets. Ronaldo has barely higher his rival by scoring 740 occasions all through his profession. Nonetheless, Ronaldo has supplied 236 assists at membership degree all through his profession; Messi, by comparability, has supplied 344.
A stark distinction.
It’s this capacity to offer as a lot as produces which units the Argentine star other than his Portuguese rival – an essential distinction which undoubtedly leads Rooney to corroborate his 2012 tweet in 2024.
