Miranda: Ronaldo and Messi would struggle in Serie A

Inter defender Miranda insists Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would find it difficult to score as many goals in Serie A like they do in La Liga.

Real Madrid star Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Messi are the all-time leading goalscorers for their respective clubs in Spain’s top flight.

Ronaldo has netted a La Liga-best 30 goals this season, eight more than five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi.

But former Atletico Madrid centre-back Miranda, who came up against Ronaldo and Messi during his time in Spain, believes the pair would struggle to match those feats in Italy.

“They are both fantastic players and would score a lot of goals in every league,” Miranda told GloboEsporte.

“However, here in Italy, they would not arrive in front of the net as often as they do in Spain because teams are a lot more organised tactically.”

Miranda swapped Atletico for Milan in the off-season, ending his four-year association with the Spanish capital club.

The 31-year-old enjoyed considerable success in Madrid, winning La Liga and Europa League titles, while he collected a Champions League runners-up medal in 2014. 

That was thanks to the guidance of coach Diego Simeone, who is preparing for another Champions League final-four tie against Bayern Munich.

Simeone’s exploits have not gone unnoticed by some of Europe’s biggest clubs, while the Argentine coach has talked up a return to former team Inter, where he spent two years as a player in the 1990s.

However, Miranda does not expect Simeone to leave Atletico anytime soon.

“I can only see him as the Atletico coach,” he added. “He is happy in Madrid and I think he will stay there for a long time to come.

“Just as Atletico though, we have a great coach [Roberto Mancini] at Inter as well.”