Former Brazil international Felipe Melo has picked Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo in the debate over who is the best player of his generation.
Messi and Ronaldo have won all but one of the last 12 Ballons d'Or and are widely regarded as two of the greatest players of all time.
The argument regarding whether the Barcelona icon or Juventus forward is the better player has been a polarising one in world football for more than a decade now, but Melo is firmly in Messi's camp.
"[Messi is] a unique player. When Brazil played against him we used to say 'we have to kick him once each, we have to rotate'. If we didn't, it was too difficult to mark him," Felipe Melo told Clarin.
"We didn't want to break him, just to cut his rhythm and to disturb him - it was tactical. Messi is incredible, more so than Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Cristiano can score five goals for you, but Messi can score those five and then make his teammates score as well. He's more complete."
Messi and Ronaldo have scored a whopping 1,422 goals between them for club and country.
