Messi Vs Ronaldo: La Liga President Chooses His GOAT, Annoints Current Best Player

La Liga president, Javier Tebas has chosen his Greatest of All Time (GOAT) between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as he announces his current best player.

Messi and Ronaldo dominated football for over 14 years. They were so good that they won 13 of the last 14 editions of the Ballon d’Or, five for Ronaldo and eight for Messi.

Due to the stiff competition that existed between them especially when they were both playing in La Liga, Messi at Barcelona, and Ronaldo at Real Madrid, it has been difficult to conclude who is the greatest between them.

However, La Liga president, Javier Tebas, who agreed that Messi and Ronaldo are the best players of their generation, concluded that the 36-year-old Argentine football icon is the GOAT.

“Lionel and Cristiano are the best two players in history, with Messi as the first. Players are important but not essential for a competition,” Tebas said during a recent interview with Juan Jose Buscalia from DSports.

“Trying to repeat it for so long, because Messi and Cristiano have been at the highest level since they were 18, it will never happen again, the stars have aligned.”

Lionel Messi started his football career at FC Barcelona and stayed at the club until 2021 before he was forced to move to French Ligue 1 side, Paris Saint Germain due to the club’s financial complications.

As for Ronaldo, he moved to Real Madrid in 2009 from Manchester United and stayed there until 2018 before he moved to the Italian Serie A side, Juventus.

When the two players, Messi who is now at Inter Miami of MLS, and Ronaldo who is now at Al Nassr of Saudi Pro League, left La Liga, speculators claimed the league wouldn’t be able to remain relevant. But that has not been the case.

“[Messi and Ronaldo leaving] didn’t cause any damage because we didn’t shrink, but with them, we would certainly have grown faster”, the La Liga president said.

“The French league with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe didn’t grow, Cristiano Ronaldo went to Italy and Italian football [revenue] has not improved, ours did even though we lost them both.”

Meanwhile, Tebas has anointed English midfielder, Jude Bellingham who joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund last summer, as the current best player in the world.

He said, “Sponsors and audiovisual media, what they care most about is that the competition is economically sustainable, that seven years later it continues to be very competitive.

“In Spain, there are always very good players, this year we have the best of the world, that is [Jude] Bellingham, last season [Robert] Lewandowski was at a great level.

“Atletico has [Antoine] Griezmann, if Mbappe comes that will help us to be more competitive and grow even faster.”