Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel has settled the GOAT debate between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as he brands the Argentine his favorite.
Mikel Obi recently weighed in on the GOAT debate between Argentine football legend Lionel Messi and Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo and named his favorite among the two.
The former Chelsea midfielder shared his insights about the two players, especially during their prime and he admitted that Messi was the superior player between them.
Obi said he was more of Lionel Messi’s fan than Ronaldo and claimed that the former was a topic of tactical preparations when Chelsea faced Barcelona back then.
He went on to stress that Chelsea needed a collective effort to contain the Argentine, as defending one-on-one seemed impossible against the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Mikel Obi spoke to Rio Ferdinand in an interview with FIVE, he said: “I’m a Messi fan. When we played against [Manchester] United when Cristiano was there we knew Ash (Ashley Cole) would deal with him. He is capable of dealing with him.”
“I know the comparison is there but because I’ve played against both and Messi was close to me when we played against them,” Mikel Obi continued.
“But for me, and I’m not going to say miles because of what Cristiano has done as well, but for me, I really don’t see the comparison. I just think Messi is from a different planet. I just think he is that good.”
Mikel also claimed that Barcelona always had Messi as the center plan as they faced other clubs, so at Chelsea the plan was to kick the former Barcelona star and hinder him from enjoying the ball.
The Nigerian continued: “Every time it was against Barcelona, of my god, training the whole week was about Messi. We have to have two, or three players with him, you can’t defend one-on-one against him. It’s impossible.”
“You’re dead. And the way they play, the way they move the ball around with the sole purpose of getting the ball to him and all he’s doing is watching the game, Mikel Obi added.
Mikel Obi also added saying: “I know we all talk about how he walks around but it’s just to find the space. Once that ball gets to him, the movement everybody is running and moving, it’s so difficult [to play against].”
“The game plan was just to kick him because we can’t get the ball off him or get close enough. If you think he is there, he is gone. You can watch our games when we play them. JT (John Terry) is tackling, Frankie’s (Frank Lampard) tackling, I’m tackling, everybody’s putting in tackles. That’s the only way we could stop him.”
Mikel Obi
Mikel John Obi also known as John Michael Nchekwube Obinna is a Nigerian former professional footballer who was born on 22 April 1987 and played as a defensive midfielder.
The former Chelsea player started his professional career at local club Plateau United, before joining Norwegian club Lyn at the age of 17 in 2004.
He played for the Stamford Bridge outfit for 11 years, before moving to China with Tianjin TEDA in 2017 but returned to England on a short-term deal with Middlesbrough two years later.
In 2019, he joined Trabzonspor on a free transfer and moved back to England in August 2020 joining Stoke City.
In a 14-year international career between 2005 and 2019, he played 91 times for Nigeria, scoring six just six goals for the Super Eagles.
