The question of who is the better player when it comes to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been asked many times.
Perhaps, depending on club persuasion, the answer veers very definitely towards one rather than the other.
Former Chelsea midfielder, now manager, Frank Lampard, has played against them both so is well qualified to speak about the relative merits of each.
During a sponsor Q&A, cited by the Daily Mail, Lampard gave his reasons for choosing Barcelona’s best-ever player.
“I’m gonna go Messi on this on pure, natural talent,” he said.
“But what Ronaldo has done has been absolutely incredible.”
Another question related to the toughest midfielders that Lampard had ever played against, and it’s little surprise that the Spanish duo of Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez were his picks.
“The two that I name when I say against is Xavi and Iniesta at Barcelona,” he added.
“They were great players, they were kind of not the biggest and quite slight.
“It just shows it doesn’t matter, because sometimes people think you have to be huge to be a footballer player. You don’t.”
Inevitably, there will be those who disagree with Lampard’s choices and for a variety of reasons.
However, given his standing in the game, and his longevity, Lampard is experienced enough to understand when a truly special exponent comes along, and to that end his choices have to be respected.