FOOTBALL: Two-thirds of former footballers believe Cristiano Ronaldo has a better career than Lionel Messi, according to a surprising survey

Cris­tiano Ronal­do’s leg­endary career sur­pass­es that of his rival Lionel Mes­si, accord­ing to a sur­vey of for­mer footballers.

The glob­al super­star has been com­pared to foot­ball fans for near­ly two decades.

Mes­si, 35, has won sev­en Bal­lon d’Ors to Ronal­do’s five and has received more per­son­al accolades.

But two-thirds of for­mer foot­ballers believe the five-time Cham­pi­ons League win­ner Ronal­do, 37, has a bet­ter career than his Argen­tin­ian rivals.

A recent poll by The Ath­let­ic found that 66% of for­mer play­ers sur­veyed chose Ronal­do when asked ‘who had a bet­ter career’.

This is part­ly due to the fact that Ronal­do has spent so many clubs in his career, which is part­ly where he sur­pass­es Messi.

The Por­tuguese play­er, who has had two his­toric appear­ances at Man­ches­ter Unit­ed, Real Madrid and a tro­phy-rich streak at Juven­tus, had a hum­ble start at Sport­ing Lisbon.

Mes­si, mean­while, has sworn alle­giance to Spain’s Barcelona until the sum­mer of 2021 and has signed for French cham­pi­ons Paris Saint-Germain.

The rival­ry between Ronal­do and Mes­si lit up La Liga for almost 12 years and Mes­si fond­ly remem­bers it.

“He always want­ed to sur­pass him­self, not to look at oth­ers,” Mes­si said of his sev­enth Bal­lon d’Or win.

“With Cris­tiano Ronal­do, we were in the same league for sev­er­al years, so there was some competition.

“It’s been great and allowed us to grow our careers, but with­out see­ing each oth­er in person.

I want­ed to be my best self.

“I nev­er said I was the best ever and I try not to think about it.”

“To be called one of the best is enough, some­thing I nev­er imagined.”

Ronal­do and his Man­ches­ter Unit­ed team­mates will take on local rivals Man­ches­ter City on Sun­day afternoon.

Mean­while, PSG and Mes­si will face Nice on Sat­ur­day night.