Paolo Di Canio claims "emotionless alien" Lionel Messi is worse than Cristiano Ronaldo

Chelsea v Newcastle: Pictures

Lampard says Everton need to find a way to get results to stay up

Mikel Arteta praises Martin Odegaard following dazzling display against Leicester

Arsenal V Leicester: Pictures

Jones claims England are underdogs for Ireland clash

Man Utd boss Ralf Rangnick reviews Spurs win

Tiger Woods’ health is priority right now, not his return to golf – Rory McIlroy

Thomas Tuchel on his future at Chelsea

Conor McGregor shares strange video with his butler

Jurgen Klopp very impressed with Luis Diaz

Paolo Di Canio has admitted he prefers Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, because the Argentine is an “alien without emotions”.

Messi has endured a difficult week at Paris Saint-Germain after the French club were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.

PSG surrendered a 2-0 lead on aggregate as Karim Benzema scored a 17-minute hat-trick to dump Mauricio Pochettino’s side out with a 3-2 defeat in the last 16 .

The result was followed by Ronaldo’s stunning hat-trick in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Tottenham on Saturday – a week after missing the Manchester derby with a hip flexor injury.

And former Sunderland manager Di Canio used the contrast to lay into Messi, who he believes does not help himself with his on-pitch body language.

"Messi left the pitch scratching his head, he has no emotions," he said on Sky Sport Italia.

"I prefer Cristiano Ronaldo. ‘Do you want me to sit on the bench against Man City?’

“I go back to Portugal, then I return and score a hat-trick. I prefer the human who has a soul to the alien without emotions."

Messi’s move from Barcelona to PSG in the summer is yet to pay off, with the 34-year-old contributing seven goals and 10 assists in 25 appearances so far