World No 1 chess player, Carlsen reveals Real Madrid told him to say Ronaldo is the best player ever ahead of Messi during interview with the club

Legendary chess champion, Magnus Carlsen has revealed that he was once told to say his favourite player was Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of his arch-rival Lionel Messi during an interview with Real Madrid. 

The five-time World Chess Champion who reportedly has an IQ of 190, told all on the Lex Fridman podcast and gave his true thoughts on who he believes is the greatest footballer of all time 

'I think it's pretty hard to make a case for anybody else than [Lionel] Messi for his all-round game,' admitted the 31-year-old. 

'My Real Madrid fandom sort of predates the Ronaldo era - the second Ronaldo, not the first one [Ronaldo Nazario]. 

 I always liked Ronaldo but I always kind of thought that Messi was better.'

Carlsen, who has visited Santiago Bernabeu severally to watch the club play revealed how the club told him to switch his personal choice on the club's favourite player during the interview.

The chess star said: 'I went to quite a number of Madrid games and they've always been super helpful to me down there. The only thing is that they were going to do an interview and they were going to ask me who my favourite player was. 

'I said somebody else, I think it was Isco at that point, and they were like: 'Okay, take two, now you say Ronaldo'. 

'So for them, it was very important, but it wasn't that huge to me.'