Cristiano Ronaldo has opened up on his relationship with fierce rival Lionel Messi. That’s after slamming Manchester United in a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV.

The veteran striker, 37, stunned United by claiming the club have ‘betrayed’ him. Ronaldo also had a pop at manager Erik ten Hag, declaring he “does not respect” the Dutchman. It is understood United are now ready to terminate his deal as a result.

However, Ronaldo also used his time with Piers to discuss his long-running rivalry with Messi, 35. The star duo regularly came up against each other during their respective times at Real Madrid and Barcelona. Their “GOAT” statuses have been the subject of many heated debates between football fans.

The pair have 18 league titles and nine Champions Leagues between them, as well as over 1600 career goals. Regarded as two of the best players ever, Messi also has seven Ballon d’Or wins while Ronaldo has five.

And many believe they have used the presence of each other to push themselves to such dazzling heights. Ronaldo has now lifted the lid on his relationship with Messi. He has nothing but praise for the Paris Saint-Germain star, saying he is grateful to have “shared the stage” with another incredible talent.

Ronaldo hailed Messi as a “magic” player who “does great things for football.” But he added that despite respecting each other, the pair are yet to become proper friends off the field.

“As a person, we share the stage 16 years, imagine, 16 years. We share. So, I have great relationship with him. I’m not friend of him in terms of, what I mean friend is the guy who was with you in your house, speaking on the phone, no, but it’s like a teammate,” CR7 to Piers Morgan.

He added, “He’s a guy that I really respect the way he always speak about me. Even his wife or my wife, my girlfriend, they always respect and they’re from Argentina. My girlfriend is from Argentina. So good. What I am going to say about Messi? A great guy who does great things for football.”

Asked if he would like to have dinner with the great Argentine, Ronaldo tells Piers “Why not, I like it?”.

He adds, “I love to meet people. I love people, you know, I love to share things, ideas, learn things, ideas, new histories. New brains. Why not? I will do it for sure. I will do it. A debate, as Maradona and Pele did. No problem. Come on. I’m a good person. I know. I have a good heart. And you know, I don’t like I don’t like to, you know, to criticise people is not the way I took my life. Everything is positive.”

• The Sun report