Gareth Bale has given his answer in the debate on whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest player of all time.

Bale announced his shock retirement from football last year, ending his illustrious career shortly after playing for Wales at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The forward, a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, also turned out for the likes of Southampton, Tottenham and Los Angeles FC.

He joined Madrid in the summer of 2013 for a then world-record fee of around £85million and won three LaLiga titles before leaving in 2022. 

The now 35-year-old scored a sensational 106 goals in 258 games for Los Blancos and retains an affinity for the club despite entering the world of golf, which became associated with the final years of his stay.

Bale was asked to rank his top five forwards in a blind ranking challenge in a YouTube video with Futcrunch, forcing him to choose between Messi and Ronaldo. 

But when it came to making the big decision, he did not hesitate.

Indeed, Bale opted for Ronaldo, his old team-mate, in the No 1 spot and named Messi in second place - a reversal of a previous answer on the same subject.

He chose former Brazil and Madrid frontman Ronaldo, a standout name in the club's original Galactico era who dovetailed with Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, in third place. 

Harry Kane was selected in fourth while Bale chose himself to round off the list.

Bale played alongside Ronaldo for several seasons at Madrid and usurped him as the world's most expensive player, his transfer fee slightly higher than the Portuguese ace's £80m switch from Manchester United in 2009.

Messi scored 672 goals in 778 games for Barcelona while Ronaldo, his main rival in the GOAT argument, netted 450 times in 438 matches for Madrid.