Cristiano Ronaldo is a “constructed phenomenon”, while Lionel Messi is a “pure talent”, according to Granada defender Cristiano Biraghi.
Biraghi joined Granada on a loan deal from Inter last summer and has played against both Ronaldo and Messi this season.
Messi scored a brilliant hat-trick in Barca’s 4-0 win over Granada in January, while Ronaldo drew a blank in Real’s 1-0 victory last year.
Biraghi rates both men extremely highly but feels that Messi’s talents would not wane if he stopped training, a statement that he does not feel applies to Ronaldo.
Speaking exclusively to Goal, he said: “It’s really hard to choose between Messi and Ronaldo. I think Messi is pure talent, while Ronaldo is a constructed phenomenon.
“And I do not mean that negatively, but quite simply the Argentinian is quite natural, while the Portuguese has studied everything in detail.
“I always say that Messi could even stop training by tomorrow and would not change anything, if Ronaldo were to do the same, however, would not the same thing. He is a professional machine”
Neymar also scored in Barca’s 4-0 win, netting in the 83rd minute, and Biraghi has lauded the Brazil international, despite admitting that he had not seen the 24-year-old in action prior to his move to Spain.
“Before I came here in Spain, I had never seen an entire game of Neymar. Sure, you could see he was a phenomenon, I watched videos on Youtube and his goals and it was evident that it was not a normal player,” he added.
“But to see it in the game is another thing, because it gives you the feeling of having in front a complete player, both from a technical standpoint, but also in intensity, availability, self-sacrifice.”
