Lionel Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo because he 'tortures' his opponents and makes it look 'so easy,' according to Wayne Rooney

• Wayne Rooney says Lionel Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo.
• Writing for The Sunday Times,, the Englishman said: "Ronaldo is ruthless in the box, a killer. But Messi will torture you before he kills you. With Messi you just get the impression he is having more fun."
• He added that Messi makes soccer look "so easy."
• Rooney played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United for five seasons between 2004 and 2009. The pair scored 209 goals between them in that time.
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Wayne Rooney spent five years playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United, winning three Premier League trophies and scoring a combined 209 goals.

However, the Englishman still doesn't believe his former teammate is the best player in the world. That honor, he says, belongs to Lionel Messi.

Writing in his column in The Sunday Times, Rooney said: "Cristiano has become an incredible scorer and he and Messi are arguably the best two players the game has seen.

"But despite my friendship with Cristiano, I'd go for Messi. It's for the same reason I loved watching Xavi and Scholes: it's the different things in Messi's game.

"I've talked about composure and I can't remember seeing Messi score when he has hit the ball as hard as he could. He just rolls them in, makes it so easy.

"Ronaldo is ruthless in the box, a killer. But Messi will torture you before he kills you. With Messi you just get the impression he is having more fun."

Rooney added however that both players have "completely changed the game in terms of goalscoring numbers" and that he believes that their records will ever be matched.

Messi has to date managed 627 club goals during his career, all of which have come for FC Barcelona, while Ronaldo has scored 626 across spells with Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus.

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