Bengaluru, July 18: Former England and Manchester United skipper Wayne Rooney believes that Lionel Messi is better than his Old Trafford teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 32-year-old played with the Portuguese ace at Manchester United, but insists the Argentina icon is the 'greatest ever'.
Rooney was asked to put an end to the age-old debate during an interview on the 'Pardon My Take' podcast.
Without any hesitation, the ex-England star answered: "Messi. They're both probably the best two players to ever the play the game. But I just think Messi is, in my eyes, the greatest ever."
Rooney won three Premier League titles, the Champions League and the FA Cup during his time with Ronaldo at Manchester United.
The pair formed an incredible partnership until the Portuguese ace switched to Real Madrid in 2009.
Rooney kept on building his legacy at Old Trafford, while Ronaldo graced the pitch for Real Madrid adding four more Champions Leagues to his tally and has now switched to Juventus.
After recently signing with Juventus, the 33-year-old insisted he never had a rivalry with Messi during his time in Spain.
He said: "I have no rivalries against players, I have never had it, it's not part of my ethics.
"Juventus will try to win every game and that is normal - like Real and Barcelona.
"But we did not see it as a rivalry, and there will be players from Naples and Milan defending their colours in the same way,
"In the end we will see who are the best."
However, former Manchester United star and now the manager of Wales, Ryan Giggs insists that Ronaldo may have joined the Italian side to prove he is better than the Argentina ace.
The 44-year-old said: "He's obsessed with beating Messi, and he'll have the 'I did it in England'. 'I did it in Spain', 'I'm going to do it in Italy, 'I did it with Portugal.'
"So maybe that'll be his arguement when the Messi question comes around."