Piers Morgan insists Cristiano Ronaldo is STILL the greatest of all time over Lionel Messi

Piers Morgan refused to budge on his claim that Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest footballer of all time despite Lionel Messi’s sensational performances for Argentina, insisting that “a World Cup doesn’t make a GOAT.”

Messi put on another impressive display during Argentina’s 3-0 win over Croatia on Tuesday night, leading his nation to Sunday’s final and a match of World Cup glory.

Turning back the years with a masterful performance, the 35-year-old fired his first-half penalty past spot-kick specialist Dominik Livakovic before magnificently assisting Julian Alvarez’s second goal with a slalom run past the youngster. highly rated Josko Gvardiol.

As fans took to social media in droves to call Messi the greatest footballer of all time, Morgan insisted that Ronaldo was still the greatest of all time, defending his position in an interview with talk sport on Wednesday.

Morgan said: “I think Messi was absolutely sensational against Croatia. He is one of the best players to ever play the game. The debate is though, is he the greatest?

“On that I will always make a very passionate and quite forensic defense of Ronaldo. I think he deserves that title.

‘A World Cup does not make a GOAT. Messi hasn’t even won it yet!

“When you look at the statistics between Ronaldo and Messi, it’s important to remember that Ronaldo is two years older.

“It’s also important to remember that unlike Messi, who stayed in his comfortable Barcelona blanket for 17 years, Ronaldo has won league titles in four different countries, including the three most competitive leagues in the world.

“He has stepped out of his comfort zone: he could have stayed at Real Madrid for most of his career if he wanted to, but he has deliberately thrown himself into new leagues and new challenges.”

“Whereas Messi, he has only done it for Barcelona, ​​​​and around him all the time were the best players in the world. Ronaldo has often had to lead that line pretty much alone.”

Following Messi’s riotous display on Tuesday, Gary Lineker asked on Twitter: “Is there still debate? Asking for a goat.

Moments later, the Talk TV host simply tweeted in response: ‘There isn’t. It’s Ronaldo.

One aspect of the World Cup that has continually irritated Morgan is Messi’s persistent fan-boying throughout the tournament.

“I’ve been seeing a lot of Messi fanboys and fangirls during the World Cup, and I’ve been laughing,” Morgan told talkSPORT.

‘Okay, he’s having a good World Cup, but it’s his first time going!

“If you stay with a team like Barcelona for most of your career and then go to PSG and a very easy league like the French Ligue 1, are you really a better player during that period than someone who has consistently won titles in three What about the most competitive leagues out there? I’m not sure.

“I love this debate because it makes people nervous, but the reality is that they are two of the three greatest in history.

‘Diego Maradona, to me, is the greatest Argentinian to ever play the game – Messi doesn’t even get that GOAT title.

“If you look at career goals, Champions League goals, Ronaldo is way ahead. He’s better in the air, he’s better with both feet, although Messi has a magic wand with his left foot.

“I can amass a pretty big sheet of data that I think leads to the conclusion that not only is Ronaldo the GOAT, but Messi is only the second biggest GOAT in Argentina!

And I think France is going to win the World Cup and break Messi’s heart anyway!

Morgan also revealed that Ronaldo once told him that Messi was the best player he had ever seen live, but only because it was impossible to see himself.

The TV presenter explained: “I said to him: ‘Who’s the best player you’ve ever seen?’

“He said: ‘Messi, but you are asking the wrong question, you are not asking me who is the better player’, because of course he has never been seen playing live.”

In a separate response to a question posed by Jeff Stelling on Twitter, Morgan claimed that Brazil legend Ronaldo might even be ahead of Messi in the greatest debate of all time.

“I think Cristiano Ronaldo is the best of all, Maradona second, Messi third (possibly fourth actually, behind R9),” he proposed on social media.

Morgan, who considers himself a friend of the Portuguese superstar, conducted an explosive interview with Ronaldo last month, prompting Manchester United to sack the 37-year-old.

During the revealing conversation, Ronaldo widely criticized his former club for falling down the pecking order under new boss Erik ten Hag.

The forward criticized the lack of change to Manchester United’s infrastructure since his first outing in 2009, criticized Ten Hag’s tactics and methods and referred to former team-mate Wayne Rooney as a ‘rat’.

As Ronaldo’s team prepares to find a new home for the free-agent star in January, Messi is one step closer to claiming the biggest prize soccer has to offer.