Messi, Lewandowski, Modric, no Ronaldo: World's most valuable veterans XI named

The respective careers of eternal rivals Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been the subject of comparison for well over a decade.

More often than not direct rivals for the coveted Ballon d’Or prize, the pair have ruled the footballing world throughout recent memory.

However, while the Argentine captain has enjoyed a blistering start to the season at Paris Saint-Germain, Ronaldo’s herculean powers finally appear to be on the wane.

The 37-year-old Portuguese icon has very much fallen out of favour at Manchester United, with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner an unused substitute in the recent 6-3 loss to Manchester City.

The differing starts that Messi and Ronaldo have had to the current campaign are reflected in Transfermarkt’s latest market value update.

Messi, now 35, ranks as the world’s most valuable player aged 33 or over per the Transfermarkt algorithm.

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Ronaldo, meanwhile, doesn’t even feature in an XI of the most valuable players aged 33 or older shared by the site on Instagram – something that would have been unthinkable 18 months ago.

Although Ronaldo misses out, the final XI featuring football’s most valuable veterans is pretty impressive. We’ve taken a look at it in full below.

GK: Manuel Neuer – Bayern Munich – 36 years old – £13.5 million

DR: Cesar Azpillicueta – Chelsea – 32 – £8.1m

DC: Sergio Ramos – PSG – 36 – £5.4m

DC: Mats Hummels – Borussia Dortmund – 33 – £5.85m

LB: Jordi Alba – Barcelona – 33 – £8.1m

CM: Luka Modric – Real Madrid – 37 – £9m

CM: Idrissa Gueye – Everton – 33 – £9m

RW: Lionel Messi – PSG – 35 – £45m

LW: Thomas Müller – Bayern Munich – 33 – £19.8m

ST: Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich – 34- £40.5m

ST: Karim Benzema – Real Madrid – 34- £27m

Ronaldo