Gareth Bale U-turns on Cristiano Ronaldo stance in answer to Lionel Messi GOAT debate

Gareth Bale seems to have finally made up his mind in the classic greatest of all time debate surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Bale called time on his storied career last year after winning five Champions League titles with Real Madrid. The Welshman is now embracing retired life and all that golf that it brings, but he’s still plugged in to football.

He got to see just how good Ronaldo was during his peak years at Real Madrid, while he also played against Messi on many occasions when the Argentine was at Barcelona. Bale banged in 106 goals in 258 games for Real – but still couldn’t keep up with Ronaldo, who plundered a staggering 450 goals in 438 matches for the Spanish giants.

Bale spent five years playing with Ronaldo before he moved to Juventus in 2018 and that has given him a unique insight into the Portuguese superstar. That is why he went for Ronaldo when first asked who was the greatest player of all time, during his time in Spain.

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“For me, personally, I’d say Ronaldo,” he said. “He’s got the whole package. He’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s pacey, can head the ball, strike the ball. Obviously, you can’t say anything bad about Messi, but for the all-round complete footballer, I’d say Cristiano Ronaldo.”

However, that stance appeared to waver ahead of last year’s Champions League final when Bale asked who the best player is to have ever won the Champions League. He replied: “Err, Messi.” The Inter Miami forward has four Champions League titles to his name – one fewer than Ronaldo, who claimed one with Manchester United before joining the all-conquering Real.

Bale has now gone back to Ronaldo while doing a blind ranking challenge in a . The ex-Wales international was asked to pick his top five attackers of all time and after some deliberation ended up with himself fifth, Harry Kane fourth, the original Brazilian Ronaldo third, Messi second and Ronaldo first.

Ronaldo is now winding down his career at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, but he is in no doubt about his status in the pantheon of best players. “I'm sure I'm in the history of football for what I have done and what I'm continuing to do, but one of the best players in history,” he said in 2019.

“For me, the number one in history, but for some fans, if the number one is another one and I'm second, it doesn't matter. I know I'm in the history of football as one of the greatest ever.”

The voters for the Ballon d’Or award clearly don’t agree, having handed eight trophies to Messi and only five to Ronaldo. That is likely to be where that statistic ends, too, with neither up for this year’s award.

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