Ronaldinho has spoken about his former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi, saying that it is “difficult” for him to name Messi the greatest footballer of all time. The Brazil legend said that he believes there are three players in the history of the game who are potentially better than the 35-year-old. However, he did say that he believes the Argentinian forward is the best player of the modern era, putting him above Cristiano Ronaldo. Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, Ronaldinho said: “I’m glad Messi won the Ballon d’Or. We were also friends during our time at Barcelona. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “But I don’t like to compare, and I find it difficult to say he is the best of all time.” He added that he saw Messi as the “best of his era” ahead of Ronaldo, but said he can’t put Messi ahead of some of the greats of the game.“ There was Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo... it’s hard to say that Messi is the best throughout the history of football,” Ronaldinho said. “I can only say he is the best of his era.” Ronaldinho played at Barcelona with Messi after arriving at the Camp Nou in 2003, until he left in 2008. The discussion about Messi being the best of all time has always been there, but no more so than after he won the World Cup at the end of last year - with newly unearthed footage capturing his actions seconds before the final result emerging earlier in 2023. Messi previously hailed the impact that Ronaldinho had on Barcelona after arriving in the early 99s, saying: “Ronaldinho was responsible for the change in Barca. It was a bad time and the change that came about with his arrival was amazing.” “In the first year, he didn’t win anything but people fell in love with him. Then the trophies started coming and he made all those people happy. Barca should always be grateful for everything he did.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.