Gerard Pique has never been shy about ranking Lionel Messi among the greatest to ever play the game and in a new interview with Il Corriere dello Sport, he took it further, describing his former Barcelona teammate as something close to otherworldly.
Softfootball gathered that Pique drew a direct contrast with Cristiano Ronaldo while making his point, having played alongside Messi for the majority of his career at Camp Nou. Pique said:
Cristiano was the best of humans, Leo does not belong to this planet. I saw him train every day doing incredible things, there will be no other with his speed of thought. He arrived at thirteen and played the same way both in the youth team and with the first team.
Pique also defended Barcelona’s member-based ownership structure despite recent financial struggles at the club, saying:
It is different from all the clubs in the world. Not only because its ownership is divided between 140,000 members. The aim is to maintain this unique status, even though we have not been doing well financially in recent years.
