Zinedine Zidane believes competition with Lionel Messi motivates Cristiano Ronaldo

Zidane has had the chance to evaluate Cristiano Ronaldo behind the scenes

Real Madrid Castilla boss Zinedine Zidane is of the firm belief that Cristiano Ronaldo benefits from his competition with Barcelona star Lionel Messi, ESPN reported. Ronaldo and Messi are two of the most prolific players in front of goal at elite level and both break numerous records and set new milestones for club and country on a regular basis as they propel their respective sides to tons of silverware.

The Portuguese winger and the Argentine attacker share seven Ballon d’Or trophies among themselves and are constantly in the race to outscore one another over the course of the season.

Ronaldo recently reached the milestone of 500 career goals and is also the top goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League with 82 strikes to his name 5 ahead of Blaugrana talisman Messi. He also won the Pichichi trophy in 2014-15 after registering 48 strikes in the La Liga.

In an interview with French TV programme Canal Football Club Zidane spoke of the Portuguese superstar’s freakish scoring record - "Fifty to 55 goals per season is just not human."

"But you should see him at training. At training, he's a guy who [wants] every ball, every match, every corner... he wants to score, he wants to win.”, added the retired French International.

"And when he scores he does the same thing he does in a match. He's happy and he falls to his knees [to celebrate]... it's incredible.”, said Zidane about Ronaldo’s desire to outperform everyone even on the training pitch.

Zidane believes that the Portuguese player’s desire to be the best and his rivalry with Messi keeps him on his toes and pushes him to the limit.

"There's a feature in all of that and it's that there's another player opposite who pushes him. That's to say the rivalry he has with Messi. He doesn't need that [to perform]. But what keeps him scoring 55 to 60 goals a season is the fact that he says to himself 'this year I have to score one more than the other guy every time. ", opined the three-time winner of FIFA World Player of the Year.

When quizzed about the rumours linking Ronaldo to French powerhouse Paris St Germain , the 1998 World Cup winner signed off by saying – "He's the best player in the world so it's normal that you'd want to sign Ronaldo, but he's comfortable at Real... since Raul left he's really become the other legend of the club."