Vicente del Bosque Quotes

Messi simply cannot be stopped by yourself. Ronaldo is easier because he is more about athletic prowess.

The best I've played against is Luis Figo. As for team-mates, it has to be Zinedine Zidane. He made things easier for everybody.

Ronaldo is different from Messi. He is very impressive down the wings.

Ronaldo certainly scores goals, but I do too. He certainly scores more than I do, but we don't have the same style.

Messi and Ronaldo are certainly the best in the world. They are both unbelievable. I am very happy to be a contemporary of these geniuses.

Any one of Messi, Neymar, Xavi, or Suarez can take penalties; it doesn't matter.

I can honestly tell you that playing against Messi is very difficult.

For me, the best player in the world is Messi, but the second one is Cristiano.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar are phenomenal.

Messi is a good stimulus for Cristiano.

Ronaldo? He is the most dangerous player at Real. It is hard to stop him, like Messi, because both score a lot of goals, and you never know what is going to be the next thing they will invent for scoring.

I'm a Ronaldo fan as well, and for me, they're the top two players in the world. But for me, Messi is the kind of player that can do anything.

Ronaldo leaving would seem to have ended the competition between Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo because people rarely mention one without mentioning the other. A lot of people are interested - me, too - to see how it will affect Real Madrid's football and what they might do in the transfer market.

Messi can get around his opponent in just a square meter. Ronaldo needs more space.

I've seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi... He's a leader and is offering classes in beautiful football.

Eric Cantona is a great player, but he's not as good as Ryan Giggs

For skills and tricks, Ronaldinho was the best player I've played with.

I think about the great players with whom I have shared a pitch: Eric Cantona, Zinedine Zidane, Pirlo, Xavi, Cristiano Ronaldo - and the greatest of them all is Messi.

I think now Messi is probably done more than most players. But he is in the same class as Alfredo de Stefano, Johan Cruyff, Pelé. When he finishes and he retires, he will automatically become one of them. A player that people will talk about forever, while the game of football is as good and as popular as it is. He is a sensational player.

In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen — the most complete — is Scholes. I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything. He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn’t give possession away. If he had been Spanish then maybe he would have been valued more.

Messi is undoubtedly a gifted footballer, like Maradona and Pele, and he's playing for the best club side in the world at the moment. He's successful and he's winning trophies, so it's only logical that he'll be voted the best player in the world.

Critics have always questioned whether players like Pele from the 50s could play today. Lionel Messi could play in the 1950s and the present day, as could Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff because they are all great players. Lionel Messi without question fits into that category.

Cristiano is better than Messi, without a doubt. He's more of an all-round player

Lampard, for me, was a marvellous servant for Chelsea, but I didn't think of him as an elite international footballer. And I am one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player.

I think in terms of best players, I would have to say Ronaldo, the real Ronaldo, the Brazilian one. I was fortunate enough to have a year with him at Real Madrid. He was at the end of his career and was probably half the player he was. But, in his prime, he was quite simply astonishing.