Barcelona star Lionel Messi praised former Inter striker Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima in an interview with Argentinian broadcaster TyC Sports earlier.

“Of all the forwards I’ve ever seen, Ronaldo is without a doubt the best. He was impressive.”

Ronaldo joined the Nerazzurri in the summer of 1997 for a then world record fee of around €25 million. He was named the Serie A footballer of the year in his first season with the Milanese side, where he scored 25 goals. However, as his Inter career developed, he began to suffer from a serious of recurring knee injuries that saw him play only 24 games across all competitions for Inter in his last three seasons with the club.

Overall, Ronaldo scored 59 goals and provided three assists in 98 appearances for the Nerazzurri, before going on to become one of the most lethal strikers the Spanish league had ever seen, scoring 104 goals and providing 34 assists in 177 appearances for Real Madrid.