"Ronaldo and Messi need each other"

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi need each other, according to former Real Madrid and the new Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti.

The Real Madrid and Barcelona stars have been regarded as the best two players in the world for almost a decade, winning eight Ballon d'Or awards between them.

Carlo Ancelotti, who worked with Ronaldo at Real Madrid, winning the Champions League in 2014, believes the fierce rivalry between the two drives each of them to continue improving and performing as best they can.

"I always get asked about Lionel Messi and how Cristiano regards him," Ancelotti wrote in The Telegraph. "The truth is, we did not spend all our days at Madrid talking about Messi.

"Cristiano respects Messi; he respects him a lot. In a way I think they need one another. Each one pushes the other to new heights, to new records of goalscoring.

"Ronaldo signed for Manchester United in 2003 and played his first international tournament in 2004. Twelve years on he is still the biggest European star. That's incredible.

"Were it not for the other, one of Cristiano or Messi would probably have won the Ballon d'Or eight times, rather than three for one and five for the other. Or perhaps they would not have flown so high without the other pushing them on.

"As a manager it was a pleasure to be in charge of Ronaldo. He wanted to play every week and he wanted to score every week. I never went to bed the night before a match worrying about whether he was going to be ready."