18 November 2023 , 18:57
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Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has weighed in on the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate and the 36-year-old believes there is a clear winner.
Mikel spent more than a decade at Chelsea, helping the Blues win two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the Europa League, four FA Cups and two League Cups. During that time, he came up against both Ronaldo and Messi on a number of occasions and Mikel believes the Argentine is the superior player.
In an appearance on Rio Ferdinand's Vibe with Five podcast, Mikel explained that Chelsea always felt confident when they were coming up against Ronaldo because they knew left-back Ashley Cole was "capable of dealing with him". However, he said that when they faced Messi their game plan was "just to kick him" because it is "impossible" to defend him one-v-one.
"I'm a Messi fan," Mikel admitted . "I'm telling you now, when we played against United when Cristiano was there, we knew, 'OK Ash [Ashley Cole] would deal with him, Ash will deal with him, he's capable of dealing with him'.
"But every time it was against Barcelona, oh my God, training the whole week was all about Messi. We had to have two or three players with him, you can't defend one-v-one against Messi, it's impossible. You're dead.
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"The way Barcelona played and moved the ball around, the sole purpose is getting the ball to him. All he's doing is watching the game, walking around just to find the space and once the ball gets to him, the movement, everybody is running.
"It's so difficult, the way he touches the ball, the way he passes. Our game plan was just to kick him and get him off the ball, because you can't get the ball off him, you can't get close enough. You think you're there and then he's gone.
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel believes Messi is "on a different planet" to Ronaldo (Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)"That's the only way we could stop him. For me, I really don't see the comparison between Messi and Ronaldo. I think Messi is from a different planet. I just think he's that good." Mikel also snubbed Ronaldo when asked who the most difficult player he faced was.
'I've always said my toughest opponent in the Premier League was Stevie G," he added. "You remember when he started playing as a No.10 for Liverpool, with Fernando Torres up front? Oh my God!
"Quick, technically very good, strong, powerful, he could tackle as well. You're looking at a No.10 who could tackle! I know he didn’t play in that position for very long, but he was the guy who was very, very difficult to play against. He knew how to find the space in between you and the defenders."