Professional footballers rate Ronaldo over Messi

The majority of players in a poll of former professional footballers believe Cristiano Ronaldo has had a better career than Lionel Messi.

Debates have long been held over which of the superstar pair has accomplished the most during their glittering careers.

But in survey of ex-pros conducted by The Athletic, two-thirds of respondents claim that they believe the Manchester United forward has had the superior career of the pair.

Interestingly, whilst the respondents appeared to favour Ronaldo's achievements in the game when comparing the two directly, the former professionals preferred Messi as a hypothetical teammate.

Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said that they would have preferred to play alongside the former Barcelona great as opposed to his Portuguese counterpart.

The only major trophy still alluding the two stars is the World Cup, and with both men in the latter half of their thirties, the upcoming tournament in Qatar could prove to be their final opportunity to settle the ongoing debate.

A slim majority of those surveyed expressed the belief that the standard of officiating in football has improved since their retirement 

The survey also provided a variety of interesting insights regarding how former players view the game.

57 per cent of those surveyed believed that the standard of officiating has improved since their playing days.

In addition to this, just over half of respondents believed that the life of a football was more difficult today compared to when they were active professionals, with social media cited as the most common response as to why life is harder for footballers now.