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<p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="match-schedule">{"type":"match-schedule","data":{"channelId":"970b46ce-81b6-494d-942a-ff5ab2ea4651","competitionId":"34pl8szyvrbwcmfkuocjm3r6t"}}</script><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_d6e1e5da-7d9a-43d5-97e1-f4350a3cd7e3"}}</script><ul><li>Both men starred in La Liga</li><li>Now in America &amp; Saudi Arabia</li><li>Stand among the all-time greats</li></ul>

‘Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo together would have been a bomb!’ - Real Madrid star Dani Carvajal refuses to pick between ‘monsters’ in GOAT debate

<p>The long-serving Real Madrid defender spent five years alongside CR7 at Santiago Bernabeu between 2013 and 2018. He saw the <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/goat-cristiano-why-ronaldo-lionel-messi-man-utd-team-mate/blt5f71241b734ad018" target="_blank">Portuguese superstar become the Blancos’ all-time leading scorer, while adding to his Ballon d’Or collection</a>, and came up against Barcelona legend Messi on a regular basis.</p>

WHAT HAPPENED?

<p>Carvajal would be expected to side with Ronaldo in the ongoing greatest of all-time discussion, given their history together, but he has <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/lionel-messi-cristiano-ronaldo-goat-debate-bayern-munich-thomas-muller-picks-winner-explains-choice/blt3ed1f1787d8c6feb" target="_blank">too much respect for Messi – who has eight Golden Balls</a> of his own and is the <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/44-trophies-lionel-messi-all-time-record-very-good-hands-inter-miami-tata-martino-historic-leagues-cup/blt4c0a84c28d5bf241 " target="_blank">most decorated player in the history of the men’s game</a> – to pick sides.</p>

THE BIGGER PICTURE

<p>Instead, Carvajal has told <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielHabif/status/1756382487444341010?s=20 " target="_blank"><em>Daniel Habif</em></a>: “Messi or Ronaldo? I put them on the same level. I don’t prefer one over the other. They are monsters in every sense of the word, and I could not choose neither this, nor that. I think they are very different. Messi is a player who is able to go back, receive the ball, and create attacks, and then he can participate in the play and create. Cristiano is a monster at scoring goals, attacking the area, and finishing. If they were playing together, they would have been a bomb. And it would have been interesting to see.”</p>

WHAT CARVAJAL SAID

<p>Any chance of <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/lionel-messi-cristiano-still-get-last-dance-inter-miami-love-rematch-al-nassr-6-0-drubbing-saudi-arabia/blt00e9a7de2a576804" target="_blank">Messi and Ronaldo gracing the same team</a>, certainly in a competitive sense, appears to have passed. Argentine icon <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/secret-meetings-10-year-project-how-david-beckham-signed-lionel-messi-inter-miami-co-owner/bltcc28a521e2bdff22 " target="_blank">Messi is now in MLS with Inter Miami</a>, while Ronaldo has helped to <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/is-cristiano-ronaldo-still-champions-league-level-portugal-roberto-martinez-explains-38-year-old-totally-elite/bltf1fe5ca91bc0fea0" target="_blank">raise the profile of the Saudi Pro League</a> following his stunning move to Al-Nassr in 2023.</p>

WHAT NEXT FOR MESSI & RONALDO?

‘Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo together would have been a bomb!’ - Real Madrid star Dani Carvajal refuses to pick between ‘monsters’ in GOAT debate | Goal.com US

Dani Carvajal can’t pick between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in GOAT debate, but admits seeing them in the same side “would have been a bomb”.

‘Lionel Messi &amp; Cristiano Ronaldo together would have been a bomb!’ - Real Madrid star Dani Carvajal refuses to pick between ‘monsters’ in GOAT debate