“It’s not for his age, he’s got four good years of football left. What I think is that he should not play everything. We have to convince him and tell him that he shouldn’t play 70 games a year. I’m a Barca fan and I’d give him the Pichichi, Golden Boot, and whatever else each year," Basque national team Javier Clemente said to Sport.
"It’s impossible that he plays so much, he’ll be ruined. He’s the best in the world, he does things that only he can do.”
Clemente's sentiment can be understood. Messi has played 39 games in all competitions this season. He's started 26 of his 28 league games this season.
While Leo's productivity is never under question, there's a question on whether he's being overworked at Barca since he features for almost every game for the Blaugrana.
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Messi, Ronaldinho? 'Fat' Ronaldo is above them: Ex-Madridista Salgado
"Ronaldo Nazario is the greatest thing I have ever seen," former Real Madrid defender Michel Salgado has said.
"I have never seen a striker like him. Messi, Ronaldinho... but the 'fat one' is above them."
Salgado shared the Santiago Bernabeu dressing room with Ronaldo for five years before the Brazilian's move to AC Milan in 2007 so no wonder he sees his former teammate as the greatest player ever.
On the other hand, the fact that Messi has played twice as many games for Barcelona (770) as Ronaldo scored career goals (296), makes the Argentine a 'slight' favourite for the GOAT title.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic snubs Leo Messi as he names Ronaldo Nazario the GOAT
"I don't need to describe Ronaldo, 'The Phenomenon'," former Barcelona forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said in an interview with Discovery Plus.
"I always say you have the players that play the game, and the players that are the game. For me, Ronaldo is the game. When you watch him play, everyone wanted to play like him and become like him.
"The way he was moving, the way he did his stepovers, the way he did 'the snake'. The way he was moving, for me he's the greatest player through history, no doubt."
Well, Ronaldo could've probably reached the levels of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but his career was torn apart by constant injuries.
The legendary Brazilian scored 296 goals in 452 appearances on a club level, including 47 strikes in 49 outings for Barca in the 1996/97 season.
Hence, it would be probably a bit unfair to rate Ronaldo over Messi who has already netted more goals than the Brazilian played games - 657.
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