• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Erling Haaland is one of the top players in modern football as he seems to be taking forward the football greatness along with Kylian Mbappe from the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi and Ronaldo achieved immense success and set incredible standards of brilliance, competing with toughness at both individual and team levels over the years to reach such heights.

ALSO READ: BAN vs SL 2nd T20I Live Score

Haaland, on Tuesday, hailed Messi and called him the best player ever ahead of Ronaldo, mentioning the end of the debate over the greatness for him between the legendary footballers.

ALSO READ: Kane Williamson Recalls Debut Match In Front Of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid Ahead Of 100th Test

Messi ended the debate of greatness for most of the fans after winning the World Cup with Argentina in 2022 and followed it with a record-eighth Ballon d'Or ahead of Haaland and Mbappe to add more to his coveted career.

Haaland went on to say that, Messi need to retire for someone else to be regarded as the next best in the world.

"Lionel Messi is the best player that has ever played football. Maybe he has to retire for someone else to be regarded as the best," Haaland said ahead of Manchester City's UCL match against FC Copenhagen.

The star striker Norwegian Haaland who came into the limelight after setting the Bundesliga on fire with his prolific goal-scoring ability while playing for Borussia Dortmund, moved to Manchester City last season.

He was quick to capitalise on the career-changing move and helped the Premier League giants to their first-ever treble with title victories in Uefa Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup.

When asked about losing out on his maiden Ballon d'Or to Messi in 2023, Haaland expressed his desire to reach unparalleled heights in his career.

He opened up on his wish to achieve more despite winning monumental milestones at the age of 22.

"I've won it all but I'm only 23, so I want to win it all again," Haaland said.

Haaland has continued his sublime form in the ongoing season as well, having scored 28 goals in 31 matches across competitions as he seems to get better with every passing game.

Talking about Messi and Ronaldo, the long-time rivals dominated world football for more than 15 years, achieving immense success at both club and national levels.

There will always be a neck-to-neck competition for greatness between Messi and Ronaldo despite their moves to Inter Miami and Al-Nassr respectively.

After having a stellar career at Barcelona, Messi moved to PSG in Ligue 1 and played for them for two seasons before heading to MLS.

Ronaldo was a beast at Real Madrid and went on to have short but successful stints at Juventus and Manchester United before joining the Saudi-based club.

On the other hand, Haaland will next be in action in City's second leg UCL fixture against Copenhagen with the defending champions having an an advantage of 3-1 aggregate score.