I played with Cristiano Ronaldo at Man Utd.. Lionel Messi would have 15 Ballons d’Or if he had my old mate’s work ethic

, Evra said: "I want to explain why I say Ronaldo every time. It's not because he's our brother, it's because I'm in love with work ethic.

"I feel like [with] Messi, God just gave him a talent and Cristiano had to work for it. He had the talent but he had to work for it.

"If Messi had the same work ethic as Cristiano Ronaldo, he would probably have like 15 Ballon d'Ors today.

"I'm just in love with people working hard so that's why I pick Ronaldo over Messi."

This work ethic previously led to Evra joking: "don't ever go for lunch" to Ronaldo's house.

He explained: "You are going to have one of the most boring lunches at Cristiano's - it is salad, plain chicken and water. There isn't even fizzy water.

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"After that, we went into the garden, trained for a little bit, went swimming, went to the sauna and at one point I looked at him and said: 'Bro, we have just finished a training session, why do we have to a second training session?'"

For many punters the debate ended in Qatar with Messi lifting the World Cup.

However, many, including Evra, continue to back the corner of Ronaldo.

As it stands Ronaldo has five ballon d'Or titles to his name, while Messi has seven and has been tipped to add an eighth after being crowned Fifa The Best Men's Player for 2022.