Cristiano Ronaldo: Magnus Carlsen makes Real Madrid claim as he calls Messi the GOAT

Legendary chess player Magnus Carlsen has revealed that he was once told to say Cristiano Ronaldo was his favourite player during a Real Madrid interview.

The Norwegian grandmaster and five-time World Chess Champion, who reportedly has an IQ of 190, was speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast when he was asked who the greatest footballer of all time is.

“I think it’s pretty hard to make a case for anybody else than [Lionel] Messi for his all-round game,” he said.

The 31-year-old added: “My Real Madrid fandom sort of predates the Ronaldo era – the second Ronaldo, not the first one [Ronaldo Nazario].

“I always liked Ronaldo but I always kind of thought that Messi was better.

“I went to quite a number of Madrid games and they’ve always been super helpful to me down there. The only thing is that they were going to do an interview and they were going to ask me who my favourite player was.

“I said somebody else, I think it was Isco at that point, and they were like: ‘Okay, take two, now you say Ronaldo’.

“So for them it was very important, but it wasn’t that huge to me.”

The clip has gone viral on social media.

Watch it here: