With the debate as to who the better player is between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continuing to rage on, it has now been claimed the FC Barcelona captain is harder to defend against than the Juventus superstar.
Messi and Ronaldo have won 11 Ballons d'Or between them since 2008, and are still going strong despite not getting any younger.
Former Germany international Arne Friedrich has now joined the debate, praising both before explaining why he believes Messi is harder to defend against.
"If I had to commit myself to one, it would be Messi. He has a different centre of gravity, Ronaldo is more my size.
"Both are at the same level, but Messi was harder to defend for me because he had a different style of play."
The former right-back, who made 246 Bundesliga appearances for Hertha Berlin and VfL Wolfsburg, also believes he "actually looked pretty good" when going up against the superstar duo.
"I really liked it when I could concentrate on the defensive side of things against good opponents and shut them down," he added.
"I had more problems when I didn't have much to do on the defensive side and a lot of space up front. That wasn't my greatest strength."
Friedrich, who is now retired, was recently appointed as Hertha's new performance manager.
