'Messi Harder TO GUARD Against Than Ronaldo'
13 February, 2021
With the debate concerning who the better player is between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continuing to rage on, it has now been claimed the FC Barcelona captain is harder to guard against compared to the Juventus superstar.
Messi and Ronaldo have won 11 Ballons d'Or around them since 2008, and so are still heading strong despite not finding any younger.
Former Germany international Arne Friedrich has now joined the debate, praising both before explaining why he believes Messi is harder to guard against.
"I could take up against both Messi and Ronaldo," he told Target and SPOX.
"If I had to commit myself to 1, it will be Messi. He includes a different center of gravity, Ronaldo is usually more my size.
"Both are in the same level, but Messi was harder to defend for me because he previously a different style of play."
The former right-back, who made 246 Bundesliga appearances for Hertha Berlin and VfL Wolfsburg, also believes he "actually looked very good" when going up against the superstar duo.
"I really liked it when I could focus on the defensive side against great opponents and shut them straight down," he added.
"I had more complications when I didn't have substantially to do on the defensive area and lots of space up front. That wasn't my ideal strength."
Friedrich, who's now retired, was just lately appointed as Hertha's latest performance manager.
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