Ronaldo hailed Messi: “He’s the greatest of all time” | OneFootball

With his hat-trick against the African side, Messi reached a milestone that shook up the World Cup record books by scoring his 16th World Cup goal. In doing so, the Albiceleste captain matched Germany’s Miroslav Klose at the top of the all-time scoring chart and surpassed the former Brazilian striker himself, who dropped to third place with 15 goals.

Far from showing any annoyance at being pushed down the scorers’ table, the 2002 world champion showed tremendous class and praised the Argentine’s achievement in emphatic fashion. The former Brazilian forward stated that “records are made to be broken, and the person breaking it does not surprise any football fan in the world.”

In addition, the former Real Madrid and Barcelona player highlighted Leo’s enduring brilliance at 38 by saying that “every time Messi steps onto the pitch, everything else becomes historic and elegant.” To round off his point, he was even more blunt in delivering his final verdict: “It is time for the world to stop hiding and accept the fact that he is the best player of all time.”

After receiving the award for the match’s most valuable player (MVP), Lionel Messi was asked about this new record and the comparisons with football legends. With total respect and downplaying the cold numbers, the Argentine star returned the compliment to the Brazilian by saying that “Ronaldo, of those I saw, was one of the greatest, and he is not first, so in the end it remains only a statistic.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.