Santiago (Chile), June 11 (IANS): Argentine forward Lionel Messi claims there's no rivalry with his Portuguese counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo and that the whole story has been cooked up by the media.

The duo have been dominating world football by sharing between them all FIFA's Player of the Year awards since 2008 and are widely hailed as the world's best two footballers.

Spanish club FC Barcelona's talisman Messi, however, insists there are no hard feelings, and no rivalry, between him and Ronaldo.

"There is no rivalry," Messi was quoted as saying by shortlist.com on Thursday.

"It's something the media invented. We both want to do well for our clubs, it is not Messi vs Ronaldo, it never has been," he said.

The 27-year-old also praised Ronaldo's former teammate England's Wayne Rooney.

When asked which English players he thought could thrive in La Liga, he highlighted the England international.

"If you look at the technical ability of a player like Wayne Rooney, he is as good as any player in Europe," Messi said.

"Rooney has exceptional quality. Not just great technical ability, but also works very hard for his team. I'm sure Manchester United will never want to let him leave, though."