XABI IMPRESSED

Real Madrid and the Spanish national team midfielder Xabi Alonso has praised both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by saying that they are the two best players in the world right now.

The two players have been going head-to-head against each other in the last three seasons for the coveted awards given to individual players in Spain. This season has been no different, but it seems that Lionel Messi has edged out Cristiano Ronaldo significantly this season after scoring 73 goals in all competitions. The Portuguese forward, though, is not too far behind after he has scored 16 goals in all competitions for both club and country.

It is one of the reasons for the former Liverpool midfielder Alonso to think that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are equally good. There has been a lot of debate about whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world, but Alonso has put an end to the argument by saying that it may be easy to separate them in terms of style, but it is extremely difficult to do so in terms of quality. Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award once in his career, but Lionel Messi already has three to his name.

"They are different but they are outstanding players. It's a privilege for us to be living such a golden era of Spanish football. Not just the national team, but in La Liga as well-it's historic that both of them, they have scored over 40 goals in La Liga - that's absolutely incredible. For Barca, they are lucky to have Messi and for us, we are very, very lucky to have Cristiano," said Alonso in an interview given to the ESPN. Alonso has backed Cristiano Ronaldo to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or award this season.