Beckham, Rooney weigh in on Messi-Ronaldo debate

Both David Beckham and Wayne Rooney weighed in on the Lionel Messi- Cristiano Ronaldo debate and said that there is no escaping the fact that the Argentine remains the greatest in the world.

Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003, the same year that Beckham had moved from the Manchester club to FC Barcelona's archrivals Real Madrid.

Rooney and Ronaldo were teammates at Manchester United for five years between 2004 and 2009 and both played key roles in a Sir Alex Ferguson side which dominated the Premier League and won the Champions League in 2008.

Beckham enjoyed a great career of his own in Manchester, winning the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga - among a host of honours - and finishing as runner-up in the 1999 Ballon d'Or.

"He [Messi] is alone in his class as a player, it is impossible that there is another like him," Beckham told Argentine outlet Telam.

"He, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who is not at his level, are both above the rest."

The Inter Miami president also recalled what it was like playing against Messi during a Champions League game as his career came to an end with Paris Saint-Germain in 2013.

The French giants clashed with Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the competition and were eliminated on away goals with the score 3-3 after two legs.

"We were leading before Messi came in, and once he came in, Barcelona scored," Beckham remembered the match where an injured Messi came on in the second half to get Barca on track.

Both Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the Ballon d'Or award over the course of the last decade but Rooney believes the Argentine has slightly more to his game and deserves to be recognised at the greatest.

'Ronaldo wasn't as focused on goals when we started playing together,' the former England captain told The Times.

'But you could see that all he wanted was to be the best player in the world. He practised and practised and began to produce. 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.'