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Gary Lineker - Messi

Lineker is deeply committed to supporting the Argentina captain in the battle for GOAT, to the point where he claimed in 2019 that there is 'no comparison' between the two players.

'Messi is on a different level to everybody else, it's as simple as that. People say to me what about Ronaldo's goalscoring record and so forth?,' Lineker argued.

'But I say to them have you seen Messi pass a football? Have you seen him dribble towards goal?'

He also argued - before Messi's World Cup win, a statement that might have seen his popularity dip on Argentinean soil - that the former PSG man was greater than Maradona.

'I never thought I'd see a better player than Diego (Maradona),' he said.

'Maradona was unbelievable and I was so much in awe of him, as everybody was in those days,' Lineker continued. 'But I think when you look at Messi, he does everything and more than Diego could do.

'I'm also a huge fan of Ronaldo, I'm a massive admirer of him. I think he's one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, there's no question about that.

'But for me football is about watching it and getting joy from it, and when I watch Messi play it makes me feel joyous.'