Football News : Cristiano Ronaldo: “I have a great relationship with Lionel Messi”

Lionel Messi has been referred to as "an unbelievable player" by Cristiano Ronaldo, and many believe he will depart the club during the January transfer window. The two were frequent rivals while playing for Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, in Spain. They are largely recognised as two of the greatest footballers in history.

After spending three years at Juventus after leaving Real Madrid in 2018, Ronaldo signed a contract to return to Manchester United in the summer of 2021. Messi, meanwhile, signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain after leaving Barcelona on a free transfer in 2021.

Although there has been much written about the alleged competition between the two players, Ronaldo was gushing about the 35-year-old during his countervailing interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV.

"He is an amazing player. Magic. Top. As a person, we share the stage 16 years. Imagine 16 years. So, I have great relationship with him. I'm not a friend of him, in terms of what I mean as a friend who was with you in your house or speaking on the phone,"

said Ronaldo.

"No, but it's like a teammate. He's a guy that I really respect the way he always speaks about me. Even his wife or my wife, my girlfriend, they always have respect and they're from Argentina."

"My girlfriend is from Argentina. So good. What I am going to say about Messi? A great guy who does great things for football."

With 140 goals in the Champions League's history-11 more than Messi, who is currently competing in this season's European Cup with PSG.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo is currently the competition's all-time leading scorer. The attacker stated in his interview with Morgan that he expects to depart Manchester United after the 2022 World Cup but that he still intends to play for another two or three years.

The Man United forward said:

"I want to play two years more, three years more. So two or three years maximum. I want to finish at 40. I think 40 will be a good age... but I don't know, I don't know the future,"
he said.

"Sometimes you plan one thing for your life and as I said many times, the life is dynamic and you never know what's going to happen."

The 20-time English champions have Ronaldo under contract till the conclusion of the current season, but it seems unlikely that he will stay with the team past the end of the January transfer window.

In 16 games for Erik ten Hag's team this season, the forward has only managed to score three goals.

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