Cristiano Ronaldo a better leader than Messi, says Cabrini

Former Juventus defender Antonio Cabrini feels Cristiano Ronaldo is a better player than Lionel Messi because the Portugal star has proven to be a real leader both on and off the pitch.

Ronaldo and Messi have won 10 Ballon d'Or trophies among them since 2008, dominating the footballing landscape for over a decade.

Whereas Messi has yet to lift silverware with Argentina, however, Ronaldo led Portugal to European Championship glory in France in 2016.

Cabrini has nothing but respect for the iconic duo following their impressive achievements, yet feels the Juventus ace's leadership exploits put him ahead of his eternal rival.

"Ronaldo is probably the best player in the world," Cabrini told reporters including Goal at a Betfair event at Allianz Stadium.

"Obviously the focus in football over the last 10 years has been on the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo.  

"My personal opinion is that Ronaldo is better than Messi, but mainly in terms of leadership. Ronaldo has proven himself to be a real leader on a lot of occasions and not just on the pitch. He is a leader in his life as well as in sports.

"So with all due respect to Messi, there have been a few instances in his career that he came up short.

"That being said, we are speaking about two great players, I think we can all agree on that."

Although Ronaldo was unable to deliver Champions League glory in 2018-19, Juventus did manage to clinch their eighth consecutive Serie A title and Cabrini believes they are on another level than all their domestic rivals.

"Whether it's the transfer market or commercial activities, Juventus always plan ahead," Cabrini added.

"That's the reason they are ahead of their rivals. When the other Italian teams start their transfer activity, Juventus have already completed the two or three key men they wanted to in that window.

"Another example is that Juventus are the first big team in Italy to own its own stadium. They all speak about it but nobody else has started to build their own home."

As official betting partner of Juventus, Betfair invited fans from the UK and Italy to play in a tournament at the Allianz stadium. The UK fans won a place on the trip by testing their Juve knowledge in a quiz named ‘beat the elite’ where they had to better the score of the Juventus players to qualify.