Donald Trump doesn’t include Ronaldo or Messi when naming his GOAT footballer

Trump's choice never even played in Europe!

Most fans have narrowed the age-old question down to two solid options, eight-time Ballon D’Or winner Lionel Messi and Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has won club football’s greatest honour (the UEFA Champions League) five-times all while scoring more than 800 career goals, and Messi — who has won four Champions Leagues titles of his own — was at the heart of arguably the greatest European club team of all time, Pep Guardiola’s ‘tiki-taka’ Barcelona side. 

However, ever since Messi’s Argentina side went all the way in 2022 and finally won the Fifa World Cup, most fans agree he surpassed Ronaldo and cemented his status as the greatest ever. 

79-year-old Trump, perhaps slightly showing his age, opted for another option altogether. 

Speaking to broadcaster DAZN, the US Commander-In-Chief named Brazil legend Pele as his GOAT. 

Even adding that he’d seen Pele play live himself, despite the three-time World Cup Winner retiring in 1977, some 40-years before Trump was first elected to the US Presidency. 

Trump said, “Many years ago, when I was young, they brought a player named Pele to play, and he played for a team called the Cosmos.”

"He was the inspiration we had, and this place was packed. It was an earlier version of this stadium [New York’s MetLife Stadium], but right here in the Meadowlands, and it was Pele.

"I don't want to date myself, but that was a long time ago. I was a young guy, and I came to watch Pele and he was fantastic. And I would I'd say, probably I'll go old fashioned.

"That's like saying Babe Ruth, but I would say Pele was so great."

Despite the consensus that Messi and Ronaldo are the two greatest players of the modern era, Pele is still regarded as one of football's greatest stars, and is credited for bringing the attention to the sport that has allowed it to grow into the global phenomenon it is now.

Pele is the only player to win three World Cup titles, and is the youngest player to score in a final, netting twice in the 1958 showpiece, aged just 17.