Gareth Bale weighs in on the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo GOAT debate and doesn’t hesitate when giving his answer in viral video
- Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are often referred to as the two greatest players ever
- Gareth Bale, who retired in 2023, was quick to give his answer in a new interview
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Gareth Bale gave his answer when asked whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest player of all time.
Bale announced his surprise retirement from football last year, ending his glittering career shortly after playing for Wales at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The attacker, who won the Champions League five times with Real Madrid, also played for clubs including Southampton, Tottenham and Los Angeles FC.
He joined Madrid in the summer of 2013 for a then-record fee of around £85million and also won three LaLiga titles before leaving in 2022.
The now 35-year-old has scored an impressive 106 goals in 258 games for Los Blancos and still feels connected to the club despite entering the world of golf.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are often cited as the two greatest players in history
Ronaldo is seen by some as the favorite in the GOAT debate, while Messi has also emerged as the winner
Gareth Bale, who retired from football last year, was asked to give his verdict in a recent video
Bale was asked to rank his top five attackers in a blind ranking challenge in a YouTube video with Futcrunchforcing him to choose between Messi and Ronaldo.
But when it came time to make a big decision, he didn’t hesitate for a moment.
Bale did indeed put Ronaldo, his old teammate, first and Messi second, a reversal of his previous answer on the same topic.
He placed former Brazil and Madrid striker Ronaldo, a notable name in the club’s original Galactico era and a close friend of Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, in third place.
Harry Kane was picked fourth, while Bale picked himself to complete the list.
Bale played alongside Ronaldo for several seasons at Madrid and has dethroned him as the world’s most expensive player, with his transfer fee slightly exceeding the £80 million the star player signed from Manchester United in 2009.
Messi has scored 672 goals in 778 games for Barcelona, while Ronaldo, his biggest rival in the GOAT battle, has scored 450 times in 438 games for Madrid.