Former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe has weighed in on the debate on who the better player is between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Pepe threw his weight behind Messi, citing his influence and sheer dominance on the field.Speaking on Just Riadh’s YouTube channel, Pepe said there are many who believe Ronaldo is superior in terms of statistics, but insisted that the proper way to settle the debate is to look beyond numbers. The Ivorian international argued that Neymar, at his best, can match Cristiano Ronaldo, but believes Lionel Messi’s pure football brilliance is what separates him from the rest.“But in the Messi and Ronaldo debates, I say Messi, you see, but when you talk stats and what he offers, there are many who will say Ronaldo,” he said. “Of course! But if you're fair, really watch football—the experts say forget stats. That one shoots hard. Just football, Messi is insane.“I go further: prime Neymar looks Cristiano in the eyes. Forget stats. But look Messi in the eyes too? No, he doesn't. Sorry, Messi slaps him twice. No human on Earth looks Messi in the eyes. None. Not by fantasy. That fantasy dribble, Messi doesn't do it. But Messi hooks 7 or 8 players. Neymar does too, but Messi does it better. Ronaldo too. We've never seen that. Will we see it again? I think yes. Who? Ronaldo, we'll see again. They're machines. Maybe not now, in 20 years. Messi, we won't see again. They try with Yamal, but Yamal isn't it. Not Messi. Messi is scary. He won't go,” he added.Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominated the football space for almost two decades, sharing the Ballon d’Or 13 times between them. Despite being in the twilight of their careers, both are still performing at high level. Lionel Messi is currently at Inter Miami and recently led Inter Miami to their first-ever MLS Cup, while Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.When Nicolas Pepe used Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to address Arsenal fans’ expectations about him after record transferBack in 2024, Nicolas Pepe opened up about his stint at Arsenal, saying that he found it difficult to live up to the expectations of the Gunners faithful.In 2019, Pepe joined Arsenal for a then club-record fee of £72 million, but the 30-year-old failed to live up to his billing at the Emirates.Speaking to The Athletic, Pepe admitted that he ‘paid the price’ for his big-money move, as many expected him to rack up numbers like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He said:“When a club pays that much for you, the little details don’t matter,” Pepe says. “I was young; it was the first time I had left France to play abroad. I had to adapt in lots of ways, but people don’t see that. They only see what happens on the pitch. Automatically, the first player to be criticised is the one that cost a lot of money. You have to be getting goals and assists, goals and assists. People expected 30, 35, 40 goals a season. But it was only Messi and Ronaldo who did that. Arsenal spent a lot of money on me and I paid the price for it.”Pepe has since left Arsenal and currently plays for LaLiga side Villarreal. During his time at Arsenal, he scored 27 goals in 112 appearances across competitions.