Ronaldo vs Messi: I couldn’t do anything against him – Toby Alderweireld names best player

Former Tottenham Hotspur star, Toby Alderweireld, has joined the debate on who is the best player between Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Alderweireld is one of the few footballers who have had the privilege to face both Messi and Ronaldo over the years.

Asked to reveal the best player he has come up against in his career, the Belgian defender picked Messi, adding that the Argentine captain was unprecedented when he faced him in the Champions League back in 2018.

“Messi,” Alderweireld said in his recent podcast as he recalled facing Messi when Tottenham clashed with Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League in 2018.

“I usually read the play on the field, and often I succeed. But Messi…ooh. One night at Wembley when we lost 4-2 against Barcelona (with Tottenham), he was unprecedented …really unprecedented.”

He added: “You can’t get a grip on him. Everything he does, he does it just that little faster than you. He does this, then he does that, it goes so fast. I really had a feeling I couldn’t do anything against him.

“That is the thing, you don’t know what he’s going to do. That is the special thing, you can’t train for that. You try to get in duels with him. He looks like a slender guy, so you try to get physical. But he’s not slender at all; if you look at his thighs you think…wow. He is so fast. The quality, of the ball control, is not normal.

“Yeah, I played against Ronaldo many times. Of course, his numbers don’t lie, but Messi was the best because he is simply elusive. You can’t get hold of him.”