Top 5 Football Players, According to Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is one of the best football players in the world, if not the best football player. Messi was pitted continuously against Cristiano Ronaldo.

When asked about who among the rosters of football players now are the best, Messi didn’t hesitate to give five names. How did Messi rank Ronaldo? Was he even on the list?

Let’s find out.

#5 Kylian Mbappe

Currently playing for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Mbappe is the recipient of the Onze d’Or (the French equivalent of the Ballon d’Or) in 2019. He was also the French Ligue 1’s Top Goalscorer and Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season.

He has appeared in 109 games since 2015 and has scored 66 goals in total. Mbappe holds the record of being the youngest scorer in World Cup, at only 19 years old.

Mbappe idolizes Ronaldo and hopes to emulate his playing style and techniques. His football style of play was often compared with that of Thiery Henry.

#4 Neymar

Neymar also plays for PSG, although he was playing football since 2009. He also played for the Brazil national team since 2010. He received the World’s Best Playmaker Bronze award in 2017. 

Dubbed as the next Pele, Neymar has 262 league appearances and with 156 goals. He has excellent playmaking skills as well as creating play chances for his teammates.

Neymar was the third highest-paid athlete, according to Forbes 2019, next to Messi and Ronaldo. Messi primarily inspired him.

#3 Eden Hazard

Hazard is a Belgian football player who recently transferred to Real Madrid. He was playing professionally since 2007 but was already a part of the Belgium national team since 2006, specifically Belgium U15.

Hazard has a total of 392 league appearances with 121 goals. He maintains a 100% penalty record of his 16 penalties, becoming the only football player in Europe who had over 15 penalties and scored all of them.

He was given the Player of the Year award at least eight times. In 2018, Hazard was named the Belgian Sportsman of the Year. He became the new face of FIFA 19, taking over from Ronaldo.

#2 Luis Suarez

Suarez started his senior career in 2005 and has played with five clubs including Liverpool and Barcelona. He was with the latter since 2014.

Despite the dirty tactics associated with his name from diving and stamping to biting, Suarez remains to have remarkable technical abilities in the field. He scores goals through his powerful shot.

He appeared in 439 league matches, with 301 goals. Suarez was named player of the month, season, tournament, and year at least eleven times.

#1 Sergio Aguero

Aguero was playing professional football since 2003. He transferred from Atletico Madrid to Manchester City in 2011 and remained with the club since.

Considered as one of the best strikers of all-time, Aguero is also a prolific goalscorer. He appeared in 469 league matches, scoring a total of 260 goals.

Aguero regards Messi as a brother, as cited in his book, Born to Rise. Messi provided the foreword for the said book.

Messi continued that he and Ronaldo are a different league, so to speak. He ranks Ronaldo as one of the top players beside him.

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