Man United icon Sir Alex Ferguson perfectly settled the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate

In a world as divisive as this one, perhaps one of the longest-standing sporting debates is this: Who is the better player out of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?

It's a question that is often met with a lot of reactionary feelings while United and Barcelona fans are always going to side with the player who represented their club with such passion. Neutrals are usually split 50/50 on the issue but it's something almost every player, former player or manager has been asked for their opinion on.

Some of the biggest names in sport have publicly declared their allegiance to either Ronaldo or Messi - take Gary Lineker and Ronaldinho, for example, both of whom are very much in the Messi camp. In an interview with talkSPORT, Lineker has said: "He's just phenomena. He's 31 now and he's still going strong. He plays the game in a way the rest of us are not familiar with.

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"I watch a lot of football, and people pine on this whole Messi vs Ronaldo debate; there's no comparison, for me. Messi is on a different level to everybody else, it's as simple as that. People say to me what about Ronaldo's goalscoring record and so forth? But I say to them have you seen Messi pass a football? Have you seen him dribble towards goal?"

Meanwhile, Ronaldinho highlighted his wish to have shared the pitch with the World Cup winner more often, given their age difference when playing together at Barcelona. He said in an interview with Goal: "Messi. I would have loved to continue playing alongside him. I didn't get enough time with him, he was very young. I'd