Germany forward Thomas Muller has given his thoughts on the Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi debate ahead of Bayern Munich's Champions League meeting with Messi's former club Barcelona.
While Messi is the more recent Ballon d'Or winner, claiming the award in 2021, it was Ronaldo who got Muller's vote. The deciding factor? Muller's own results against teams including the Portugal international.
The 33-year-old was speaking ahead of Bayern's Champions League match against Barcelona at the Allianz Arena. It will be the first time Muller takes on another of last year's Ballon d'Or contenders - Robert Lewandowski - since the Polish striker left Bayern for Camp Nou.
"I go for Ronaldo," Muller told ESPN. "Against Messi I have a good statistic, against Ronaldo, not that good."
Muller was part of the Bayern side which beat Messi's Barcelona 8-2 in the 2019-20 Champions League, scoring twice. He also played the full 120 minutes of the 2014 World Cup final as Germany beat a Messi-led Argentina through an extra-time goal from former Bayern star Mario Gotze.
As well as the Messi v Ronaldo debate, Muller was asked for his preference out of Lewandowski and Ballon d'Or front-runner Karim Benzema. "I have to go for Lewandowski but I know what you mean," he said. "Benzema had a very good season and is a very good player."
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In eight appearances against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Ronaldo scored a remarkable nine goals. All the goals and appearances came in a Real Madrid shirt, with the Spanish side progressing in three of the four two-legged knockout ties in question.
The only exception was in 2011-12, when Ronaldo scored twice in the semi-final but missed his penalty in the decisive shoot-out. He bounced back in a big way, though, scoring another two in a 5-0 aggregate victory in 2014 and five of Real Madrid's six goals in their quarter-final triumph in 2017.
Ronaldo and Muller will not meet in this season's Champions League unless the former gets a January move, though. The 37-year-old's Man Utd team failed to qualify for this season's competition, and the former Sporting CP star was unable to secure a summer move.
The United man made his Europa League debut last week during a 1-0 defeat against Real Sociedad at Old Trafford. Ronaldo had a goal disallowed during the match, while Brais Mendez's penalty settled the game in the visitors' favour.
Muller's Bayern team got off to a winning start in Europe last time out, beating Inter Milan at the San Siro. They could yet come up against Messi's Paris Saint-Germain, with the French champions having beaten Juventus in their own opener.
