A former teammate of Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Alexander Hleb has described Cristiano Ronaldo as a better player than Messi at providing leadership for his team at critical moments.
He said this in an interview with Sport Express after this week’s round of UEFA Champions League fixtures.
Messi was left frustrated after AS Roma overturned a 4-1 deficit against Barcelona to qualify for the semi finals, while Ronaldo scored the winning goal to send Real Madrid through to the last four.
Speaking on the characteristics of both players, who have been subjects of widespread comparison over the last ten years, Hleb said,
“Ronaldo is still not number one.
“But as a leader Cristiano is really stronger than Messi. This is confirmed by facts and more than once.
“For me, Messi as a player is more talented. But as the leader of the team, he is inferior to Ronaldo.
“In difficult moments, the Portuguese clearly shows himself brighter.
“Real generally act as a single mechanism, with such a selection of players they are calmly, confidently going to their goal.”
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