Paul Pogba has his say on Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo debate after sending Argentina home
The French midfielder made a bold claim about the Argentina captain, citing him as the best player in the world for the last ten years
PAUL POGBA may have been on the side that dumped Lionel Messi out of the World Cup, but he still rates the Argentinian as the best player in the world.
As France celebrated progressing to the quarter-finals, Pogba made sure he took a moment to console the player that he calls his idol.
Pogba put his arm around Messi at the end of the thrilling 4-3 match, in what must have been a bitter-sweet moment.
While his incredibly talented team-mate Kylian Mbappe grew up with Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol, Pogba puts Messi on that pedestal.
He said: "It's been more than ten years since he became the best player in the world.
“He’s unique, he’s a unique size, what he does with the ball in unique, he’s a pure left-footer.
"He’ll always be an idol."
Pogba has experienced the pain that can be inflicted by Messi's brilliance before, so was only too happy to have beaten him yesterday.
The Frenchman was part of the Juventus side that were beaten in the 2015 Champions League final by Barcelona.
But three years on, Pogba got his revenge thanks to some spotlight-stealing play by his 19-year-old team-mate Kylian Mbappe.
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Mbappe became the youngest person since Pele to score more than once in a World Cup knockout and even Pogba couldn't resist heaping praise on the young star.
He said: "Kylian has much more talent than I have.
“Do you see what he is doing at his age? No, I never had his talent.
“He has so much speed. Though he’s a forward, he can’t be compared with me.”