Rooney: I said Messi is better than Ronaldo, but I like Ronaldo very much. I think he is more outstanding in the past few years

Manchester United legend Rooney recently visited Ferdinand's interview column and talked about the topic of comparison between Messi and Ronaldo. He said that appreciating Messi does not mean that he does not like Ronaldo.

Rooney said: "People think I hate Ronaldo, but I actually like him very much! Ronaldo is an absolute genius, and his performance is incredible. Many people don't know how close I and Ronaldo were. Just because I said before that Messi is better than Ronaldo, many people say I don't like Ronaldo.

"To be honest, in the past few years, I think Ronaldo may be the more prominent one because he has been persisting. I really admire Messi very much, I like watching him play football, but that's just because I think Messi has something unique in his game style, such as the way he dribbles out of the ball.

"In terms of what he has achieved, Ronaldo is undoubtedly a genius. It is incredible that he can still perform like this at the age of 40. I take off my hat and pay tribute to him. What I want to say is that this is 'fair competition' and I cannot say bad things about Ronaldo."