Wayne Rooney reignites the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate | OneFootball

Wayne Rooney has risked reigniting the fierce Cristiano Ronaldo versus Lionel Messi debate with his latest comments on the long-standing question.

The former Manchester United striker has previously described Messi as the best footballer of all time. In 2012, Rooney tweeted: “Messi is a joke. For me the best ever.”

This was then followed up a decade later, with Rooney contending “Nothing has changed” after the Argentinian forward led his country to victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The Englishman’s latest contribution has now surfaced, after an appearance on a YouTube podcast yesterday.

Speaking to Lyés and CultureCams on a wide range of topics, Rooney revealed Ronaldo’s obsession with scoring goals was a clear point of contrast with his Argentine adversary.

“So for instance, Cristiano Ronaldo, his mindset is goals,” Rooney said. “He doesn’t care about anything else, it’s goals, that’s all he wants.”

868 career goals to date would indicate Ronaldo has been rather successful in achieving this goal of scoring goals. But Rooney believes it’s not one shared by Messi.

“Whereas you look at Messi, he wants to play a bit more – exactly like myself,” Rooney contended. The 38-year-old revealed this desire “to play” is one which potentially hindered his productivity on the pitch, despite it being one of the defining features of his play style.

“I saw something that Gary Neville said recently, that Alex Ferguson always used to have a go at me for coming too deep, but it was because I wanted to play football. And I could have been a bit more selfish and stayed up top, and maybe scored a few more goals, but I wanted to play,” Rooney stated.

As per Transfermarkt, over the course of Messi’s club career, he has scored 715 goals. Ronaldo has slightly better his rival by scoring 740 times throughout his career. However, Ronaldo has provided 236 assists at club level throughout his career; Messi, by comparison, has provided 344.

A stark difference.

It’s this ability to provide as much as produces which sets the Argentine star apart from his Portuguese rival – an important difference which undoubtedly leads Rooney to corroborate his 2012 tweet in 2024.