Umtiti recalled Messi on RMC, calling him "crazy (in a good way)," and believes there is no doubt about the comparison between Messi and Ronaldo.

Messi is about to play his third FIFA World Cup final at the age of 39. After losing to Germany in 2014 and defeating France to win the championship in 2022, the Argentina team will face Spain on July 19, striving for the fourth FIFA World Cup championship in its history.

Umtiti recalled his time working with Messi during his tenure at Barcelona from 2016 to 2023 (Messi left in 2021) on RMC's "After Foot" show on Friday evening. The former French center-back said two days before the final: "Messi is a very good person. He is introverted and shy, but he also knows how to joke and tease. During team dinners, he always laughed and chatted with us. He is just like a normal person."

"Of course he could get past me in training," Umtiti continued, "It was difficult. I called him crazy, but that's in a good way. You clearly anticipated what he was going to do, but I guarantee there were times when you just couldn't stop him. You knew he would do it, but he just did it. For example, he always curled the ball into the far corner, even the goalkeeper knew, but he just had something that others didn't, it's unexplainable."

In this FIFA World Cup, Messi scored 8 goals and provided 4 assists in 7 games. Umtiti added: "All the advantageous counter-attacking opportunities were created by him. Sometimes I feel like he saw the game unfold in advance. He can see what you're going to do, it's incredible. So for me, when people talk about Ronaldo, there's no debate. Ronaldo is an incredible athlete and an incredible player, with amazing statistics, but in terms of football itself, there's no comparison to Messi."

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