‘Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo together would have been a bomb!’ - Real Madrid star Dani Carvajal refuses to pick between ‘monsters’ in GOAT debate

The long-serving Real Madrid defender spent five years alongside CR7 at Santiago Bernabeu between 2013 and 2018. He saw the Portuguese superstar become the Blancos’ all-time leading scorer, while adding to his Ballon d’Or collection, and came up against Barcelona legend Messi on a regular basis.

Carvajal would be expected to side with Ronaldo in the ongoing greatest of all-time discussion, given their history together, but he has too much respect for Messi – who has eight Golden Balls of his own and is the most decorated player in the history of the men’s game – to pick sides.

Instead, Carvajal has told Daniel Habif: “Messi or Ronaldo? I put them on the same level. I don’t prefer one over the other. They are monsters in every sense of the word, and I could not choose neither this, nor that. I think they are very different. Messi is a player who is able to go back, receive the ball, and create attacks, and then he can participate in the play and create. Cristiano is a monster at scoring goals, attacking the area, and finishing. If they were playing together, they would have been a bomb. And it would have been interesting to see.”

Any chance of Messi and Ronaldo gracing the same team, certainly in a competitive sense, appears to have passed. Argentine icon Messi is now in MLS with Inter Miami, while Ronaldo has helped to raise the profile of the Saudi Pro League following his stunning move to Al-Nassr in 2023.