Messi or Ronaldo? Players Who Have Played With Both Stars End the GOAT Debate

• At least 20 players shared a dressing room with both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
• They remain the two most successful and talked-about footballers of the new generation
• Many players have previously been asked to choose who the GOAT is - Messi or Ronaldo?

Depending on how you define the term, one can get lucky in a couple of things in life, be it a job promotion, winning the lottery, or meeting your childhood idol.

Then just imagine playing alongside both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Watching them play alone at the highest level is privilege enough, but having a chance to train with both of them and win trophies together - now that's truly lucky.

Given they have never played on the same team, one has to have played in the same club as them or the national team set-up to get into this lucrative list.

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Over 20 players have had this privilege and in past interviews, they gave their verdicts on who between Ronaldo and Messi is the better player, as GMS reports.

For context, it is always presumably easier for a Barcelona player to name Messi the GOAT, having not played with Ronaldo, although people like Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, or Sergio Ramos can provide deeper context, having seen them train and featured alongside them on match days.

Players who chose Messi

Of the responses, Ramos perhaps gave the most interesting answer after he picked Messi, despite enjoying loads of success with Ronaldo at Real Madrid, as Daily Mail reports.

The one-and-a-half seasons he spent with the Argentine at Paris Saint-Germain was enough to change his mind after years of 'enmity' in El Clasico. The same goes for Keylor Navas.

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Others who picked the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner include Di Maria, who has toiled with Messi in the national team before they finally won two international trophies. He also played with Ronaldo at Real Madrid.

Deco (Portugal and Barcelona), Fernando Gago (Argentina and Real Madrid), Ezequiel Garay (Argentina and Real Madrid), Henrik Larsson (Barcelona and Manchester United), Gerard Pique (Barcelona and Manchester United), and Carlos Tevez (Argentina and Manchester United) all picked the Argentine wizard.

Ronaldo's supporters

Ronaldo also has his own following, led by Gabriel Heinze, who played with him both at Manchester United and Real Madrid. Arthur, a former Barcelona and Juventus midfielder, also chose him, as did Alejandro Garnacho (Argentina and Manchester United), Pablo Sarabia (PSG and Portugal), and Danilo Pereira (PSG and Portugal).

Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina and Real Madrid/Juventus), Paulo Dybala (Argentina and Juventus), Andre Gomes (Portugal and Barcelona), Nelson Semedo (Portugal and Barcelona), Miralem Pjanic (Barcelona and Juventus), Francisco Trincao (Portugal and Barcelona), and Archaf Hakimi (PSG and Real Madrid) all opted to remain neutral in the divisive debate.

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Messi vs Ronaldo: the verdict

From the 21 players sampled, nine chose Messi, five chose Ronaldo, and seven opted to pick neither. Other players who have since joined the list include Argentina's national defender, Lisandro Martinez, who played with Ronaldo at Manchester United for a short while before he went to Al-Nassr.

Buffon settles GOAT debate

Sports Brief also reported on Gianluigi Buffon joining several high-ranking members of the football fraternity who have delved into the Ronaldo versus Messi debate.

The argument on who between the two veteran football stars is the greatest of all-time has often left many football lovers, players, and even pundits utterly divided.

Buffon once gave his reasons for choosing one of these two superstars as superior to the other, mentioning their killer instinct when deep inside the penalty area.