Amato: Messi is king

12 September 2012 17:48

River Plate assistant coach Gabi Amato believes Lionel Messi is streets ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as the world's best player.

Amato, who wore the jerseys of clubs such as Real Betis and Mallorca during his playing career, feels Ronaldo and Brazilian forward Neymar are great players as well, but insisted they are nowhere near the 25-year-old Argentine.

"Messi is 100 times better. Cristiano is a great player, but I think that as Maradona said here in Argentina, Messi is different," Amato told Marca.

"As Diego also said, Neymar or Cristiano can be the best players in the world, because Messi is out of this world.

"He's an incredible player. He doesn't touch the ball for a few minutes, then he suddenly takes two steps and scores two goals. They're different, but Lionel's far better."

Messi has netted four goals in three Liga games this term, as well as scoring twice in the Spanish Supercopa.