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• Rodri: Messi is the greatest player of all time, without any doubt

  Manchester City and Spain star Rodri has suggested that Lionel Messi pipped Cristiano Ronaldo as the greatest footballer of all time.

  The 28-year-old was recently awarded the 2024 Ballon d'Or as recognition for a period in which he won the Champions League in 2023 and Euro 2024 with Spain the next year.

  Ex-Barcelona man Messi has won three of the last four Ballon d'Ors prior to Rodri, with the midfielder claiming that the latter is the greatest "without any doubt" during an interview on Spanish TV.

  "Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, without any doubt. Cristiano has managed to match Messi without innate talent. But those of us who have played against them can see the difference," said Rodri, speaking to El Hormiguero.

  "We didn’t want Cristiano to step into the box because he was lethal there. But with Messi, the danger was everywhere on the pitch."

  Ronaldo has scored a total of 928 goals in his career for club and country, winning 34 major trophies including five Champions League titles. He has also won the Ballon d'Or on five occasions.

  Messi, meanwhile, has scored 877 goals, won the Champions League on four occasions and the Ballon d'Or five times, most recently in 2023.

  Messi is now at Inter Miami, while Rodri is recovering from an ACL injury at Manchester City, although the two faced each other in LaLiga during the midfielder's spells at Villarreal and Atletico Madrid before his Premier League move.

  "When Messi got the ball, you’d think: 'Oh, danger'," he added. "When I first started playing against him, I tried to take the ball from him, and he dodged you as if you were a bull in the ring. The feeling I had was that something bad was about to happen."

• Mbappe must improve to 'follow Ronaldo's path' at Madrid, says France World Cup winner Candela

  Kylian Mbappe can "follow Cristiano Ronaldo's path at Real Madrid" if he works harder, according to former France defender and World Cup winner Vincent Candela.

  The former Paris Saint-Germain forward has endured a tricky start to life with Los Blancos since making the switch as a free agent.

  Despite scoring eight goals in 16 appearances across all competitions, Mbappe is yet to truly catch fire at Santiago Bernabeu, where his displays have been subjected to widespread criticism.

  The France forward has underperformed his season's expected goals (xG) total by 2.04, while he was left out of Les Bleus' squad for their recent Nations League matches after failing to find the net in his last four appearances.

  Mbappe is averaging a goal every 166 minutes in all competitions this term, compared to one every 88 minutes in his final campaign with PSG, and was flagged offside eight times during the humiliating 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in October.

  Candela, who was part of France's squad that won the 1998 World Cup, says Mbappe must up his game in the Spanish capital.

  However, the 51-year-old is confident his compatriot will do that and, if he does, can potentially emulate a Madrid icon, who became the club's leading scorer and won four Champions League titles during his glittering spell.

  "He has to work harder in Spain. He can still grow and become a stronger player," Candela said in an interview with RB Sports, via Diario Sport.

  "At Real Madrid, Mbappe is a player among others, while at PSG, he was an icon.

  "I hope Mbappe can follow Cristiano Ronaldo's path at Real Madrid, but it's too early to compare them. First, he has to win the Champions League, as the Portuguese has done several times."

• 'Enigma' Haaland offers too much threat to be left out, says Mills

  Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills believes Erling Haaland is an "enigma", which is why it is so hard to leave him out of the side.

  Haaland has been a revelation since joining City in July 2023, and he has won the Premier League Golden Boot in both seasons so far, while also scooping up the Premier League Player of the Year award in his debut campaign.

  He has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances in all competitions for City, netting 16 times this term already.

  Haaland is averaging 1.09 goals per game in the Premier League this season, after making a record-breaking start to the campaign in which he scored 10 times in the opening six matches.

  Mills, who played for City between 2004 and 2009, thinks the 24-year-old's high-scoring record comes down to the efficient way he approaches matches.

  "Erling Haaland is a bit of an enigma," Mills told Stats Perform. "He's not your usual centre forward.

  "We expect our centre forwards to either drop deep, be a bit of a playmaker and create chances, or put on a high press, work the channels, and have lots of touches, closing people down.

  "Haaland stands in the middle of the pitch, makes the runs when he needs to, is very efficient, and puts the ball in the back of the net more often than not. He gets himself in good positions.

  "We can talk about him missing big chances, but he's also scored an awful lot of goals. That's the thing — a centre forward will always say you're better off being in the position and missing the chance than not being in the position because the goals will come. Everybody misses chances."

  Haaland also set the record for most Premier League goals in a single season in 2022-23, with 36, and he once again sits top of the goalscoring charts this term, though he has seen his goals dry up somewhat in recent weeks after his lightning-quick start.

  The Norwegian netted his 12th Premier League goal of the campaign in City's 2-1 loss to Brighton before the international break, ending a run of three games in all competitions without a goal.

  Nobody has had more shots than Haaland in the English top-flight this season (55), while only Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins (11) has missed more big chances than him (10).

  Mills suggested that Haaland is held to a higher standard than other forwards in the competition, but says even when he is not scoring, he offers too much to be left out of the starting line-up.

  "When we talk about patchy form for Erling Haaland, patchy form for him is still way better than most other players' form. It's better than 95% of Premier League strikers," Mills added.

   

  "That's why he gets criticised for missing big chances, because we expect him to score every single time. But he's just different.

  "I think it's very, very difficult to leave him out because he offers so much. He's so big, strong, powerful, and scores all types of weird and interesting goals at times.

  "He occupies three or four defenders because they’re all worried about his pace in behind, his aerial ability, or what he's doing. Leaving him out would be a big, big call.

  "It's not like he's going through a drought. An Erling Haaland drought is that he hasn't scored for two games. There are centre forwards all over the world who would love that to be their record, not their drought.

  "So, I think we need to have some perspective. Yes, he might miss one or two chances, but he's a massive threat and a fantastic goalscorer."