66 per cent of former footballers believe Cristiano Ronaldo has had a better career than Lionel Messi

A number of former footballers once voted on who has had the better career out of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - bringing a surprise result.

Ronaldo and Messi are widely viewed as the two greatest players ever to play the game, having raised levels with their incredible achievements for club and country.

Sharing the stage for more than a decade, the pair have 15 Ballon d'Ors between and hold a number of impressive records that may never be broken in the future.

They went head to head in the peak of the El Clasico rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona and both are now enjoying their final years outside of Europe in Saudi Arabia and the United States.

In Europe Messi spent the bulk of his career dominating with Barcelona before playing two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain, adding a further two league titles.

On the international stage, he has won the Copa America twice as well as completing football by captaining Argentina to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Ronaldo has won league titles in three different countries and despite failing to win the World Cup, he did taste international success with Portugal through a Euro 2016 triumph in France.

And though the debate about who is the greatest is never-ending, ex players sided with Ronaldo in a poll with The Athletic.

The outlet ran a survey covering a number of topics back in 2023 and one of the 35 questions was "Who has had the better career, Messi or Ronaldo?".

66 per cent voted for Manchester United and Real Madrid legend Ronaldo, compared to 34 per cent for Messi.

The former footballers sided with Cristiano Ronaldo. Image: Getty

However, when asked about which of the two they would have preferred to have played, Messi won by a landslide vote of 72 per cent to 28 per cent.

Not for the first time, Ronaldo proclaimed himself to be the greatest in a recent interview with El Chiringuito to mark his 40th birthday, stating that he is "the most complete player to have existed" while point towards his numbers.

However, Messi's long-time teammate Javier Mascherano, now his manager at Inter Miami, had an honest response to his comments.

"Cristiano saying he is the most complete and the greatest player in history? I have a lot of respect for Cristiano and I do not have the need to analyse his opinions. It’s what he thinks," Mascherano said.

"I have my own thoughts and it isn’t that."