Legendary former Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is coy when asked to pick between the two greatest footballers currently in the world Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

The Ronaldo and Messi duopoly has been unprecedented in the world as the duo have ruled the world of footballer for more than a decade with their breathtaking performance.

Ronaldo and Messi have dominated football with the two winning 11 out of the last Ballon d'or awards with the Barcelona ace winning six of them.

In an interview, the Ghanaian midfielder could not separate the two as he was very diplomatic claiming they are all at par.

"I won't pick one and leave the other because they're both top players. They're both exceptional in whatever they're doing," Essien said on ConvosWithCarol.

"It's hard to pick one because I've played with Ronaldo and played against Messi and I can tell you they are both excellent players. It's hard to pick to be honest because they both possess different characteristics."

During a loan spell with Real Madrid, the Ghanaian midifielder made 21 appearances and scored twice for Real Madrid during the 2012/13 season, playing alongside Ronaldo as the Whites lost the Spanish Copa Del Rey 2-1 to city rivals Atletico Madrid.