Cristiano Ronaldo tells Lionel Messi is better as Premier League legend ‘deals with him’

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel weighs in on the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate and the 36-year-old believes there is a clear winner.

Mikel played for Chelsea for more than a decade, helping the Blues win two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the Europa League, four FA Cups and two League Cups. During that time, he played against Ronaldo and Messi on several occasions, with Mikel believing the Argentine was the better player.

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s Vibe with Five podcast, Mikel explained that Chelsea always have confidence against Ronaldo because they know left-back Ashley Cole “has the quality to deal with him”. However, he said their game plan when they faced Messi was to “just kick him” as it was “impossible” to defend him one-on-one.

“I’m a fan of Messi,” Mikel admitted. “I’m telling you now, when we played Manchester United and Cristiano was on the pitch, we knew, ‘OK, Ashley Cole will handle him, Ashe will handle him, he has the quality to handle him.’

“But every time against Barcelona, ​​gosh, the whole week of training is about Messi. We have to have two or three players with him, you can’t defend Messi one-on-one, it’s impossible. You are dead.

“The way Barcelona plays and moves the ball, the only purpose is to get the ball to him. All he does is watch the game and move around just to find space and once the ball comes to him, everyone is running.

“It’s so difficult, the way he touches the ball, the way he passes the ball. Our game plan was just to kick him and get him off the ball because you can’t take the ball away from him, you can’t get close enough and you think You’re there and then he’s gone.

“That’s the only way we can stop him. For me, I really don’t see the comparison between Messi and Ronaldo. I think Messi is from a different planet. I just think he’s that good.” When asked Mikel also snubbed Ronaldo when asked who was the toughest player he faced.

“I’ve always said my toughest opponent in the Premier League was Steve G,” he added. “Do you remember when he started playing for Liverpool as a number 10 with Fernando Torres up front? Oh my god!

“Quick, very technical, strong, powerful and he can tackle too. You’re looking at a No. 10 who can tackle! I know he hasn’t been in that position for long but he’s the guy who can Tackle guy.” “It’s very, very difficult to play against. He knows how to find space between you and the defender.”

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