Mbappé Dismisses Messi vs Ronaldo GOAT Debate Clichés: ‘That’s a Take From Someone Who Doesn’t Play Football’

Kylian Mbappé has entered the long-running debate over who is the greatest footballer of all time — not to crown a winner, but to challenge what he describes as a fundamental misreading of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Real Madrid forward took direct aim at the popular framing that positions Ronaldo as a self-made athlete and Messi as a naturally gifted one, dismissing it in blunt terms. “That is a take from someone who doesn’t play football,” Mbappé said. “Because if you can sit there and tell me that Ronaldo has no talent, or that Messi doesn’t work hard, it means you’ve never in your life put on boots to go train every single day.”

For Mbappé, the GOAT debate is less about hierarchy and more about contrast. Having played alongside Messi at Paris Saint-Germain between 2021 and 2023, and having grown up with Ronaldo as his idol — famously decorating his childhood bedroom walls with images of the Portuguese star — the Frenchman is one of the few active players with direct experience of both.

“Cristiano is my idol, but I also played with Leo. And having played against both, the truth is they are really different. They aren’t the same,” he said. “The rivalry between them was good because everything completely opposes them. You know: [Ronaldo] right-footed/[Messi] left-footed, [Ronaldo] tall/[Messi] short, [Messi] more elegant/[Ronaldo] more raw, [Ronaldo] more explosive/[Messi] with more vision/playmaking.”

Mbappé’s time alongside Messi at PSG offered a close-up view of the Argentine’s work ethic that contradicts the ‘natural genius’ label frequently applied to him. During their two seasons together in the French capital, Messi and Mbappé were part of an attacking unit that delivered back-to-back Ligue 1 titles in 2021/22 and 2022/23, as well as the 2022 Trophée des Champions.

The comments arrive at a moment when both Messi and Ronaldo remain active, albeit in different stages of their careers. Messi, 38, continues to feature for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer following his 2022 FIFA World Cup triumph with Argentina — widely regarded as having cemented his GOAT credentials for many in the football world. Ronaldo, also 38 at the time of writing, has been playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League since January 2023.

Mbappé, 27, brings his own growing legacy to the conversation. Since joining Real Madrid ahead of the 2024/25 season, he has continued to build a CV that already includes a FIFA World Cup winners’ medal from 2018, a runner-up finish in 2022, and multiple Ligue 1 titles. His perspective on the Messi-Ronaldo debate carries weight precisely because of those shared experiences — on the training ground with one, and as an admirer from a formative age of the other.

Rather than attempting to settle a debate that has divided football fans for nearly two decades, Mbappé’s remarks serve as a reminder that the binary framing — talent versus effort — does a disservice to what both players have achieved, and how they achieved it.