Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Buyo labels Ronaldo and Messi as "football monsters"

Both Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the footballing world in recent years

Real Madrid’s ex-goalkeeper Paco Buyo thinks that both star forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are somewhat of footballing monsters of the present era but they aren’t quite at the same level of Argentina legend Diego Maradona.

The magnificient pair has been dominating the sport for quite sometime now and have drawn constant comparisons from fans and pundits on who the best player in the game is. While the 28-year-old maestro has won a record number of 4 Ballon d’Ors; an individual accolade that rewards the best player on the planet, Ronaldo isn’t far away as he has three to his name.

Buyo has nothing but praise for what they have achieved in their career. However, the former Blancos shot-stopper insisted that he wouldn’t have been scared had he faced the duo in his time.

Messi and Ronaldo resume their roles of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively as their La Liga campaign kicks off on Sunday night where the Catalans are in action against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames while Rafa Benitez’s Madrid take on Sporting Gijon.

And Buyo, who knows that the Argentine and Portuguese are capable of finishing off any opponent, is confident that he would’nt have feared the prolific pair since he has already faced off Maradona several times in his 11 years at the Bernabeu.

Talking to Omnisport, the 57-year-old stated, “Leo and Cristiano are players with different characteristics,”

“When I was Real Madrid goalkeeper I had the fortune to face - with the greatest of respect to Messi and Cristiano - the best player of all time: Diego Maradona. Maradona had similar characteristics to Messi and most of the time I was the ‘winner’ in the duel. Therefore, you can’t be scared of any player.

“But the power of these football monsters is massive. And they enjoy a goalscoring fortune in La Liga and, essentially, both can cause one's defence many, many problems,” he added.

Both Ronaldo and Messi enjoyed yet another brilliant season on individual terms but the Argentine pipped his adversary on collective success as he was vital in leading his club to a treble.

Ronaldo ended up as the top scorer of La Liga with 61 goals in 54 games which is his career best in a season while Messi also racked up impressive numbers with 58 from 57 appearances across all competitions.