Cristiano Ronaldo thinks he is better than Lionel Messi

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo thinks he is better than his rival Lionel Messi.

Soccer fans right now are being treated to two of the best players of all time duking it out during overlapping careers. If they were playing during separate eras, they wouldn’t be as compared as much as they are because they play head-to-head so frequently.

The debate about who is better and has gotten everyone to weigh in on the matter, including FIFA president Sepp Blatter at one point in time, albeit rather controversially as is everything he is involved in.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Ronaldo believes he is better than Messi. In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais to promote his upcoming documentary, Ronaldo talked about Messi’s success as compared to his.

Ronaldo had this to say, as translated by Jesus Balseiro of AS:

"It doesn’t bother me. If you look back over my past eight years, I’ve always been at the peak; and that is difficult. Name me someone else who has done it? After that, being No.1 or No.2 is a matter of small details, such as if you win trophies or not. Perhaps for you, Messi is the best; in my head, I am the best – and everyone should think that about ourselves. That is why I have been able to achieve so much in my career.It was hard for me to watch Messi picking up several Ballon d’Ors. I’d be thinking: “Why should I go to the gala?”"

Of course what is a professional athlete like Ronaldo supposed to say, that Messi is better than he is? Ronaldo should think he is the best.

While the argument between Messi and Ronaldo essentially boils down to God-given talent vs. hard work and dedication, both are talented in their own right. Messi is viewed as more humble and Ronaldo as more arrogant.

And Messi is hesitant to talk about a rivalry with Ronaldo on a personal level, but Ronaldo seems to embrace it and talk about it in a relatively reasonable manner, reaffirming what fans think about the two men motivating one another to be better than their counterpart as they pursue greatness.

“These are things that people say. I don’t compete with Cristiano and I suppose he would not compete with me,” Messi said in an interview with Guillem Balague on Yahoo.com.

“What I want is the very best for my teams, and that’s what I am working for.”

By comparison, Ronaldo said it is hard to compare the two and their different styles, but was honest about them pushing one another.

“Some people say I’m better, other people say it’s him, but at the end of the day, they’re going to decide who is the best player,” Ronaldo told CNN back in 2012.

“Sometimes (the comparisons with Messi) makes me tired … for him too because they compare us together all the time.

“You cannot compare a Ferrari with a Porsche because it’s a different engine. You cannot compare them. He does the best things for Barcelona, I do the best things for Madrid.

“I think we push each other sometimes in the competition, this is why the competition is so high. This is why Madrid and Barcelona are the best teams in the world because everyone pushes each other, not just me and Messi but other players.”