Messi is more influential than Cristiano Ronaldo

The Barcelona right-back insists his team-mate is
better than the Real Madrid star because he is
more heavily involved in his team's moves beyond
goals and assists
Barcelona right-back Dani Alves says Lionel Messi
is a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo because
he has more influence in matches.
The debate continues to rage on over which of the
two players is the best in the world and it shows
no signs of abating, with the pair seemingly getting
better each year.
However, Alves insists Messi has more influence in
his team's plays than Ronaldo does with Real
Madrid, insisting the Portuguese star does not do
anything outside of scoring goals.
"Messi is much better than Cristiano Ronaldo," he
told Bola da Vez. "Messi has an influence on the
play and Cristiano doesn’t. See if he has an
influence on play beyond scoring goals and
appearing in certain moves.
"Messi is influential, he plays and assists. Messi
has a divine gift. Cristiano works hard. We have
our battles, but I admire him. He is a guy with
great dedication and he’s competitive.
"Ronaldo has things that I don't admire because I
play for the team. I think that my team is more
important than me. I think he cares little for what
really matters, which is the collective side of the
game.
"So much so that some criticised us during the
celebration of titles while he celebrated the league
top goalscorer award.”
Messi and coach Luis Enrique had a public falling
out after the Argentine was left out of his side's
defeat to Real Sociedad at the start of 2015, but
Alves insists these things happen in football.
"Fights sometimes occur due to wanting to
improve. Of course the anger existed, but it was
about competing. Everything started during a
match in a training session due to the
interpretation of an action.
"It was a move that the coach interpreted in one
way and Messi in another. Messi is very
competitive and never wants to lose and his team
lost and the discussion grew.
"Each one has a way of being, but we all have the
same objective. Besides, fights even occur in the
best families."
The Brazil international recently signed a new
contract with the Catalan club, despite being
heavily linked with a move away for the majority of
the season. And he admits that he turned down
offers to remain at Camp Nou.
"I could have signed a pre-contract with another
team, but I refused," he added. "I decided to be
honest to the end and focus 100 per cent on doing
a great job."