Piers Morgan has reiterated that he believes former Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest footballer of all time, despite Lionel Messi's sensational performances for Argentina at the World Cup.
Messi helped the South American side secure their place in the World Cup final on Sunday, with the Paris Saint-Germain star registering a goal and an assist in the 3-0 victory over Croatia.
The 35-year-old scored from the spot in the first-half before assisting Manchester City ace Julian Alvarez following a slaloming run beyond highly-rated defender Josko Gvardiol.
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Meanwhile, Ronaldo and Portugal exited the tournament in Qatar after losing to Morocco in the quarter-finals. The former Reds frontman, who only scored one goal in Qatar, left the field in tears following the surprise defeat to the African outfit.
While former players, pundits and fans all took to social media to label Messi as the best footballer in history, Morgan instead insisted that Ronaldo was still the greatest of all time - defending his stance in an interview with talkSPORT on Wednesday.
"On that I will always put up a very passionate and quite forensic defence of Ronaldo. I think he deserves that title," Morgan said. "One World Cup does not a GOAT make. Messi hasn't even won it yet!
'When you look at the stats between Ronaldo and Messi, it's important to remember Ronaldo is two years' older. It's also important to remember that, unlike Messi who stayed in his Barcelona comfort blanket for 17 years, Ronaldo has won league titles in four different countries, including the three most competitive leagues in the world.
"He's taken himself out of comfort zones – he could have stayed at Real Madrid for most of his career if he wanted to, but he's deliberately taken himself into new leagues and new challenges.
"Whereas Messi, he's only ever done it for Barcelona, and there all around him the entire time were the world's greatest players. Ronaldo has often had to lead that line pretty much on his own."
United parted company with Ronaldo following the 37-year-old's controversial TV interview with Morgan last month. During the explosive, 90-minute long conversation, the Portuguese star criticised the club, his then manager Erik ten Hag and several of his former teammates.
Morgan has always defended the veteran attacker, and he has since claimed that the persistent 'fan-boying' of Messi throughout the World Cup has made him laugh.
He added: "I've been watching a lot of the Messi fan-boying and fan-girling during the World Cup, and I've been laughing. OK, he's having a good World Cup, but it's the first one he's turned up for!
"If you stay at a team like Barcelona for the majority of your career and then you go to PSG and a very easy league like the French Ligue 1, are you really a better player over that period than somebody who has consistently won titles in three of the most competitive leagues there are? I'm not sure.
"I love this debate because it winds people up, but the reality is they are two of the three greatest ever. Diego Maradona, to me, is the greatest Argentine to ever play the game – Messi doesn't even get that GOAT title.
"If you look at career goals, Champions League goals, Ronaldo is way ahead. He's better in the air, he's better with both feet, albeit Messi has a left-foot wand. I can rack up a pretty large sheet of facts which I think leads to the conclusion that not only is Ronaldo the GOAT, but Messi is only the second biggest GOAT from Argentina!
"And I think France are going to win the World Cup and break Messi's heart, anyway!"
Messi has scored five goals at the World Cup in Qatar, while Ronaldo's only goal of the tournament came from the penalty spot in Portugal's opening match against Ghana.
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