Lionel Messi more skilful than Cristiano Ronaldo, says Fabio Capello

New Delhi: Who is a better player Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? It's a long running debate in football world. And now the former England manager Fabio Capello also joined the never ending debate on Thursday by stating that the Argentine is more skilful among the two.

"Cristiano is a powerful player, with very good technique, but he does not possess the pure technical skill of Messi," Capello told AS.

"Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are two extraordinary players but they are different," the Russia manager further added.

According to the Italian, the Barcelona striker is a very difficult player to play against. "When I saw Messi play I knew he was special. I could see that he could do things that didn't occur to other players," he further added.

However, a few days back, Real Madrid's star Ronaldo left Messi behind to win his third Ballon d'Or at the annual Fifa gala in Zurich. Interestingly, Messi is still leading the overall list of Ballon d'Or awards, with four Player of the Year titles under his belt.