Messi v Ronaldo debate settled... by some girls in London

The Argentine's tricks against the Portuguese's strength. Messi's selflessness versus Ronaldo's ruthlessness. Lionel's flair head-to-head with Cristiano's hair.

But why decide such questions when it's a lot easier to get a couple of photos of the superstars, and show them to some girls wandering up and down by the banks of the Thames in London?

That's what radio station Talk Sport did on Tuesday - and the results are in.

While there was very little discussion of the respective merits of the players' explosive pace, first touch or tactical awareness, there was a lot of cooing about being cute.

The winner? Cristiano Ronaldo comes out slightly ahead.

And next week, perhaps Talk Sport will enlighten us still further by getting the players' respective mothers to bake a cake, and get the Masterchef judges to decide between them.

Actually, having said that fairly flippantly, that's not at all a bad idea. If anyone has the phone numbers for Mrs Messi and Mrs Ronaldo, drop us a line and we'll make it happen!