Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi has come down firmly on one side of football’s oldest argument, picking Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo as his personal GOAT. Speaking on the Beast Mode On Podcast, the Fulham man didn’t hesitate when the question came up.

“That’s a tough one. It’s tough for me. I always say, Messi,” Iwobi said, before explaining what separated the two players from his own experience facing them on the pitch.

His reasoning comes down to timing as much as talent. Iwobi pointed out that by the time he played against Ronaldo, the Portuguese star was already in a later, more clinical phase of his career, built around efficiency and getting into the box to score, rather than the all-round creative threat he’d been earlier on.

Messi was a different story entirely, and Iwobi traced it back to a specific night that clearly stuck with him. “When I played against Messi at the Nou Camp, they had Neymar, Suarez, Iniesta, Xavi, and Dani Alves. There’s just names on names on names, and that was on my first Champions League start,” he said. “You head out of the tunnel and the fans are chanting Messi’s name. Meanwhile, there are other superstars.” Fans who enjoy these kinds of GOAT debates can check Bet9ja’s current promo code before the new Premier League season kicks off.

What stuck with him most, though, was the physical impossibility of getting close to Messi. “Neymar is small (height) and Messi is extra small, and I thought, no, there’s no way someone like this has this much presence. Every time he had the ball, it was like he had a radius around him that no one could come close to,” Iwobi explained.

The story ends the way plenty of Messi encounters do for defenders. “Then a ball went to Messi. I tried to press him because I was tired of the force field he had around him, so I tried to mark him. He cut in and went past me, and I slipped. It comes out on every Messi compilation and I go, ‘Oh God’, that’s me again,” he said. New Bet9ja users following EPL storylines can check how to get the Bet9ja promotion code ahead of the new campaign.

It’s a fitting anecdote from a player whose own career has been built on the kind of steady durability that’s rarely flashy but consistently effective. Iwobi has become one of the most reliable Nigerians in the Premier League era, moving through Arsenal, Everton and now Fulham without ever losing his place as a regular starter.

That consistency has translated into genuine milestones. Iwobi became the first Nigerian player to reach 300 Premier League appearances, and he also holds the record for the most Premier League minutes played by any Nigerian, a mark he took from John Obi Mikel. Punters tracking Nigerian milestones in England can check Bet9ja’s YOHAIG code as the new season gets underway.

For Nigerian fans, the Messi story carries extra weight given who Iwobi is related to. As the nephew of Jay-Jay Okocha, comparisons to flair and technical ability have followed him his whole career, and it’s fitting that his own personal GOAT debate comes down to a player built on similarly untouchable close control.