Jude Bellingham Prefers Liverpool Forward Over Messi For His FIFA XI

If there’s one thing in football that is pretty much guaranteed to live on forever, it’s the eternal Messi v Ronaldo debates.

The iconic duo dominated the headlines for the better part of a decade and won countless honours with Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

In the process, they also sparked a competitive rivalry like no other, one which forced millions of fans to pick a side. And so they did.

The LM10 and CR7 factions are still going strong to this day, despite their idols being in their twilight years.

A simple search on Twitter is enough to uncover the latest narrative the two fanbases are pushing in support of their man.

With a rivalry so intense and popular, it’s only natural that even players themselves chime in on the debate. 

Over the years, we’ve seen iconic players, coaches, and even their teammates have their pick from the two, which always makes for an intriguing watch.

Another footballer who expressed his opinion is Borussia Dortmund wunderkind, Jude Bellingham, although his comments flew under the radar initially.

Nevertheless, Football Twitter came across his comments relatively recently and since then the clip has been doing the rounds for various reasons.

The comments originate from a video on Dortmund’s official YouTube channel, in which the 19-year-old picks his FIFA Team of the Year.

His picks reflect when the video originally came out, as it was uploaded back in February. 

Showing off his ball knowledge, Bellingham picks an exciting midfield trio of Marco Verratti, Nico Barella and Kevin De Bruyne. 

The primary moment of intrigue comes when it’s time for a right-sided forward, for which the midfielder responded with “either Messi or Salah”. 

asked about messi/ronaldo and he brings up…
pic.twitter.com/SwrzMi6O9g

— Capitano🌹 (@redRiveraa) September 13, 2022

This prompted the host to bring up the timeless ‘Messi or Ronaldo’ question, to which Bellingham replied, “Messi for me, for sure. I just think he has a good mix of the numbers (statistics) and watch factor. You can just watch him and you just think like, ‘How does he do that?’. 

“Every time I watch him, he does something that makes me think like, ‘he can’t be human, so I’d say, Messi”.

Despite his appreciation for the Argentine, Bellingham insisted on Salah for the spot instead, saying ” For this team, I think it’s hard not to go with Salah”.

“I have to go with Salah just because of how he’s started this season.” 

His admiration for the Liverpool forward stood out in particular, as he looked visibly surprised that Salah didn’t make it into last year’s TOTY. 

Bellingham has been linked extensively with a transfer to Liverpool, with some reports even suggesting that his impending arrival is the only reason why the Reds refuse to spend big on another midfielder.

While the truth in these rumours will be filtered out sooner or later, the clip was certainly enough for Liverpool fans to hop on board and get excited.