Former Manchester City star Stephen Ireland doesn’t consider Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best players he ever came up against.

According to Ireland, Eden Hazard at Chelsea was the best player he ever faced.

Ireland told TalkSPORT: “I’ve played for Manchester City in a pre-season friendly against Barcelona.

“Lionel Messi played, he wasn’t good. We won the game. I can’t say that Messi is the best player I’ve played against because my experience in that game was that he wasn’t good.

“I played against Cristiano Ronaldo four or five times for Manchester City against Manchester United and we won every single game we played against him.

“So it is very hard for me to say that Ronaldo is the best player I have played against. I can only go off their performance on the day against me.

“Hence why I said Cesc Fabregas. Every time I played against him, very good. Eden Hazard, very, very good. So that is my opinion based on that question.”