Rio Ferdinand has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo has sent him angry texts regarding what certain people have said about Lionel Messi being better than him.
Former England striker Gary Lineker, as a pundit, has often discussed his admiration for Barcelona forward Messi, whom he believes is the greatest player of all time.
After enjoying an incredible career at both international and club level, Lineker has hosted football talk shows and is currently employed by the BBC to cover the 2020 UEFA European Championship.
He was joined on Wednesday by ex-Manchester United centre-back Ferdinand, who was speaking ahead of France and Portugal's 2-2 draw when he brought up Ronaldo's incredible desire and determination to perform on the biggest stages.
Discussing his former teammate's formula for success, Ferdinand said the Juventus striker knows exactly how to fire himself up, and claimed he has received text messages from Ronaldo about comments Lineker has made in the past.
"It's a great example to young players and he (Ronaldo) uses negativity as fuel. You've (Gary Lineker) said some things like your preference would be Messi out of the two," he said during the BBC broadcast.
"He will send me a text saying 'I can't believe he said that, can't believe he's done that'. He just uses anything (as fuel).
"You think, he's done so much in his life, 'why do you care about what anyone says about you. You know you're the guy.'
"It's the competitive nature. That's all it is. And you need that."
Ronaldo scored twice against Les Bleus to equal Ali Daei's all-time international goalscoring record of 109 strikes for Iran, with Portugal set to take on Belgium next in the competition's round of 16.
