Piers Morgan has named Cristiano Ronaldo in his all-time World XI alongside the likes of Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane, but Lionel Messi misses out after he labelled him “the second-biggest GOAT from Argentina”.

For years, the greatest of all time debate has divided opinion. One person will say Ronaldo, the record-holder for most club and international goals of all time, while the other argues Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner with a World Cup to his name.

The topic continues to divide fans, but journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan is adamant that Ronaldo is the greatest.

“I will always put up a very passionate, and I think quite forensic, defence of Ronaldo and why I think he deserves that title because one World Cup does not make a GOAT,” he told talkSPORT in 2022.

“If it did, the debate about Maradona for example, who’s won the World Cup and Messi hasn’t won it yet – Maradona for me is the greatest Argentinian to ever play the game, I don’t think Messi even gets that GOAT title.”

Morgan has previously pinpointed Messi’s decision to stay in his “comfort blanket” at Barcelona as one of the reasons behind his decision.

And on Saturday morning, the 60-year-old sparked plenty of discussion after he excluded Messi from his all-time World XI.

“Messi doesn’t even make my all-time World XI,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Assuming peak performance, this is my GOAT team: Banks, Cafu, Baresi, Maldini, Carlos, Zidane, Matthaus, Ronaldinho, Maradona, Cristiano, Ronaldo.”

Here’s how fans on social media reacted to Morgan’s team.

One said: “I’m Ronaldo > Messi but come on Piers,” and a second wrote: “Your insane lmao considering peak performance you know Messi and Ronaldo are by far the best players ever to exist.”

A third commented: “Who amongst your attackers at their peak scored 91 goals in a calendar year? You excluded Messi who achieved that at his peak. Assuming peak performance indeed.”

A fourth said: “‘Assuming peak performance’, then proceeds to omit the bloke with the literal most productive season in football history,” and a fifth added: “Delusion.”

Cristiano Ronaldo, Georgina Rodriguez and Piers Morgan celebrate the launch of new CR7 Play It Cool. Image credit: Getty

Piers Morgan produced ‘sheet of facts’ which he claims proves Cristiano Ronaldo is the GOAT

Back in 2022, Morgan listed a number of reasons why Ronaldo is ahead of Messi in the greatest of all time debate.

“When you look at the stats for Ronaldo and Messi, it’s important to remember Ronaldo is two years and four months older than Messi,” he said.

“Also important to remember that unlike Messi who stayed in his Barcelona comfort blanket for 16-17 years, Ronaldo has won league titles in all different countries including the three most competitive leagues in the world.

“He’s taken himself out of comfort zones – he could have stayed at Real Madrid most of his career if he wanted but he didn’t want to. He’s deliberately taken himself into new leagues, new battles, new challenges.

“Even coming back to Manchester United last season was a big thing for him to do whereas Messi has only ever done it for Barcelona where all round him the entire time were the world’s greatest players and Ronaldo has often had to lead that line pretty much on his own.

“So I think if you look at career goals, Champions League goals – Ronaldo is way ahead. He’s better in the air, he’s better with both feet, albeit Messi has a left-foot wand.

“I can rack up a pretty large sheet of facts which I think leads you to the conclusion that not only is Ronaldo the GOAT, but that Messi is only the second-biggest GOAT from Argentina.”

The GOAT debate is one of football’s biggest talking points. Image credit: Getty

Morgan wasn’t even convinced after watching the Argentine flourish at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“I’ve been watching a lot of the Messi fanboying over the last couple of weeks and laughing. Ok he’s having a good World Cup – it’s the first one he’s turned up to, let’s be honest,” he said.

“Am I wrong to say if you stay at a team like Barcelona your entire career and then go to a very easy league like the French league, are you really a better player over that time than someone who has consistently won titles in three of the most competitive leagues that there are? I’m not sure you are.

“I veer towards Ronaldo simply on this question: if it was the proverbial wet Wednesday at Stoke and you had to bring on one player to score a goal to save your life – would it be Ronaldo or would it be Messi?

“And I think most football fans might veer in that scenario to Cristiano Ronaldo, to win a game for their lives.”