Zinedine Zidane's thoughts on the GOAT debate resurface after meeting with Lionel Messi

Zinedine Zidane's take on the 'greatest of all time' debate has resurfaced after he sat down with eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi this week.

“No, it's only one word: magic,” he said. “Me and Leo are not together every day so today is a very important day for me because I can tell him how much I admire him.

“And all the people who like football, and all these players who are different, I think he’s magic, magic in the sense that before receiving the ball, he already knew what needed to be done."

Zidane added: “Especially for me, as someone who understands football, watching you on the field, I almost knew what you were going to do, you know? It was like a connection.

“When I see him doing what he does, I say ‘that’s it’. That’s what people want to see in football, there are only a few of them. There are a few, but not like him. Only a few… Well one.”

Back in December 2017, after Ronaldo lifted his fifth Ballon d'Or, then-Real Madrid manager Zidane was asked if he felt his number seven was the best of all time.

"Yes. His numbers speak for it, both in terms of what he has done and what’s still to come,” the Frenchman said.

“I want him here forever. He’s really happy in Madrid and he’ll finish his career here, he said it himself. There’s no more words you can use to describe Cristiano. What he does is phenomenal.

“A player could come here, spend 20 years playing in this side and still not achieve what he’s done. I hope he continues making history here until he retires.”

He jokingly added: “I was definitely better! You know what I think, he’s miles better, but I didn’t have a bad career either.”