Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has been named the GOAT by Twitter users ahead of Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, according to a new study.
Messi and Ronaldo’s incredible on-pitch rivalry has led to both superstars competing in a back-and-forth battle for the world’s best player status for over a decade.
Both the Barcelona star and Juventus forward are widely regarded as two of the best players of all time alongside the likes of Pele and Diego Maradona.
In the latest ongoing GOAT debate between Messi and Ronaldo, a new study based around tweets has found which player came out on top.
According to OGUS, an analysis was carried out over 400,000 tweets that contained the phrase ‘GOAT’ and the number of times the goat emoji was used with each player.
Messi took the lion’s share of the vote with nearly 21 per cent, which dwarfed Ronaldo’s 11 per cent.
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Messi and Ronaldo finished first and second respectively, while Argentine legend Maradona came a distant third with less than one per cent of the vote.
Posted below are the top 10 footballers who were named in the GOAT debate, according to OGUS.
10. Marta (0.08 per cent)
9. Kylian Mbappe (0.12 per cent)
8. George Best (0.21 per cent)
7. Alex Morgan (0.24 per cent)
6. Abby Wambach (0.30 per cent)
5. Pele (0.77 per cent)
4. Ronaldinho (0.86 per cent)
3. Diego Maradona (0.95 per cent)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (11.09 per cent)
1. Lionel Messi (20.94 per cent)
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Messi turned 34 on Thursday as the official Twitter Sports account called him the GOAT, which prompted furious replies from fans of Ronaldo.
the 🐐 is 34 today
— Twitter Sports (@TwitterSports) June 24, 2021
Former Spain manager Vicente del Bosque recently claimed that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner was the “world’s best.”
However, the 70-year-old Spaniard insisted that his praise for Messi was not a dig on Ronaldo.
Bosque told Canal Sur (via Marca): “Lionel Messi is the world’s best and that is not [a] slight on Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He is a kid from the street, from the neighbourhood. One of those who has been playing and mocking you on the field.
“That is why he [Messi] is the best player of the world.”
Featured Image Credit: PA