Lionel Messi names the one sportsperson he believes is the true GOAT

Lionel Messi has named the sportsperson he believes to be the true GOAT of all sports.

When it comes to football, the GOAT debate often centres around whether Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest player in the sport's long and illustrious history.

Pele, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and Alfredo Di Stefano are just some of the other players to be involved in that debate, which will probably never be agreed on by everyone.

Messi, meanwhile, is now playing football in the United States with Inter Miami, and is currently in the midst of his second Major League Soccer season.

Speaking on the YouTube channel Abitare last week, the Argentinian revealed that he had begun to develop a love of watching American football - a sport he had never previously taken much interest in when playing in Europe.

And he has now named a sportsperson from a different sport that is hugely popular in the United States as his GOAT of all sports.

Speaking to Argentine journalist Juan Pablo Varsky, he revealed: "Michael Jordan is the greatest ever.

"After watching his series, 'The Last Dance', it's impressive. That brought me much closer to getting to know him.

"So many people have asked me for photos - why couldn't I ask him for a photo? It would be really nice."

'The Last Dance', which was released on Netflix in 2020, focuses on the legendary Chicago Bulls dynasty, and particularly on Jordan's final season as a player in the 1997/98 campaign.

Jordan won his sixth and final NBA Championship with the Bulls that year, and was also named as the NBA Finals MVP for the sixth time in his career.

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Finally, he was named as the NBA MVP for the entire season after what was expected to be his final professional game, although he briefly came out of retirement to play for Washington Wizards between 2001 and 2003.

Jordan also held the record for most NBA All-Star Team appearances with 14, although that has since been beaten, and once held third place in the list of most points scored in a single NBA season, with the 3,041 points he scored during the 1986/87 season. He is also a four-time gold medalist at the Olympic Games.

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