Dimitar Berbatov picks between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

What's the story

In a tell-all interview with ESPN, ex-Manchester United (and current Kerala Blasters) superstar Dimitar Berbatov revealed his choice of who is the greatest - Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

His answer was typically emphatic and had none of the sitting-on-the-fence coyness of most of his peers... and he wasn't inclined to simply side with an old teammate.

"[Leo Messi]'s the f***ing greatest. Ronaldo is brilliant, Messi more my kind of player.

In case you didn't know...

Berbatov, of course, played with Cristiano Ronaldo - in the last truly great Manchester United team to rule England.

The Bulgarian was effusive in his praise for the Portuguese superstar, and outlined that he knew younger players would try to imitate the best players like Ronaldo, in terms of their hairstyle, choice of cars, tricks on the ball, and other such things but his advice to them is firm, that there is no substitute for hard-work - "I try to tell them how hard Cristiano Ronaldo trained in training and after training. He only wanted to be the best. Everything else came after."

The heart of the matter

He did go on to explain why he thought of Messi as the superior player -

"He sees the game so clearly. He can score, create, he's the complete player, the best ever probably. If you ask someone older than me they will say Pele, Maradona or Puskas or Di Stefano. But for my generation, it's Messi or Ronaldo. They're pretty much even, but something with Messi makes me shout 'Messi! Messi!' when I watch Barcelona on television."

Video

Here's a clip of Berba and Ronaldo combing to pleasingly brilliant effect -

Ah, Magic!

Author's Take

Dimitar Berbatov was one of the most elegant footballers to grace the Premier League and his opinion on modern football's greatest debate is naturally shaped by his very own state of being.

Besides, to each his own, eh?