Real Madrid Legend Hailed As Better Than Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

Legendary soccer commentator Peter Drury may have witnessed the greatness of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but he still thinks one icon is better than both of them.

Throughout his commentary career, Drury has indeed seen how soccer has gradually evolved. In modern times, the sport has been dominated by Messi and Ronaldo, and it has always been a debate about who the better player is between the two.

But for Drury, no one has exceeded Real Madrid legend and manager Zinedine Zidane in terms of performance.

“When he played for Real Madrid, he was balletic, beautiful, just so smooth,” Drury recently told TalkSPORT.com of Zidane. “It was like he was on roller skates. He never really ran, he just slid over the ground – what he couldn’t do with a football wasn’t worth knowing about.”

“I’ve been very lucky – I was in Madrid when Messi ran through the Real Madrid defense and how could you not love Messi and how could you not love Ronaldo? But if you’re pinning me down, I’m going Zidane,” he continued.

Zidane had an illustrious career as a player. He was the 1998 Ballon d’Or winner and was named FIFA World Player of the Year three times.

The Frenchman also made his mark as a coach winning three Champions Leagues and two Club World Cups for Los Blancos.

In August last year, Ronaldo reflected on his time with Zidane at Madrid and heaped praise on his former manager.

According to the Portuguese, he has always been an admirer of Zidane, and it grew stronger when they worked together as “Zizou” wasn’t only remarkable as a professional but also as a person.

"You need to feel like you are an important part of the group and Zidane made me feel special,” Ronaldo told Goal. "He helped me a lot. I already had a lot of respect for him but working with him made me admire him more.”

"That's because of what he's like as a person, how he talks, how he led the team and how he treated me," he added.

Messi also looked up to Zidane. In fact, the Argentine admitted to TyC Sports in November that Zidane was the only player he asked for a shirt.

“I don't ask for shirts, I usually swap them, but I asked Zidane once," Messi admitted. "If there is an Argentine I swap it with him, but, unless someone asks me, I'm not asking anyone."

As for the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate, Zidane himself once predicted that one day Ronaldo could exceed Messi.

"He is going to win more Ballon d’Ors," Zidane said of Ronaldo in 2015. "What he is doing is from another planet. If he continues, he could end up winning more than Messi."