What’s the story?
Former Spain manager Javier Clemente has shared his opinion on the eternal debate of who is the better footballer between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Speaking in an interview with Cadena SER, the 66-year-old has made a rather bold claim about the Argentine superstar.
Clemente, who managed Spain for 6 years between 1992 and 1998, started off by saying that Messi is way ahead of every other footballer in the world including Cristiano Ronaldo.
Trending
The former Atheltic Bilbao midfielder then added that this doesn't mean that the others should be disappointed, and instead asked them to take pride as they can't do much if a footballer is born superior to everyone else.
He also insisted that Ronaldo should be happy and proud of being the second best footballer in the world.
He then added: "Cristiano has better abdominals, a height advantage, and he headers better. There are things that Cristiano does better, but Messi beats him in technique, ability and vision, and that's that. He should be happy and proud to be second in the word, there's no more noble thing in sport to recognize the quality of your rivals."
In case you didn’t know...
Javier Clemente is a former Athletic Bilbao midfielder who has been managing football clubs and national teams around the world for the last 40 years.
He guided his former club Athletic Bilbao to two La Liga titles in the 1980s as a manager while also helping them win the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana.
He was last seen managing Libya between 2013 and 2016, when he guided them to the African Nations Championship in 2014.
He has also been awarded the Don Balon award - for the best manager in La Liga - for three years.
The heart of the matter
Clemente has made some interesting points in his latest interview where he has highlighted that Messi is a much superior footballer than anyone else while Ronaldo is the better athlete.
What's next?
The eternal debate as to who out of the two is the better footballer will continue to wage on for years to come and you can expect some of the biggest names in the world of football to take sides.
It is a never ending debate and we should just sit back and enjoy the show until it lasts.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Clemente's verdict seems to be straight like an arrow, as although he did make a bold claim he justified his point of view with a very apt explanation - that Messi is the superior footballer while Ronaldo is the superior athlete. Hard to argue with that!
