Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure knows Lionel Messi very well, given he played with the Barcelona star at the Catalan club. Therefore, he's had the chance to play with and against the Argentina international. He's spoke about both in an interview with Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport.

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"The best player I have played with is Messi. I'll tell you something, I one heard Patrice Evra and Carlos Tevez say that Cristiano Ronaldo works really hard, but Messi is different. Messi is a genius. It's natural. In training he's simple. He's very good with the ball. He's always with the ball, but he never does anything crazy. He's thinking about the game. He's like Sergio Aguero, trying to do everything easy, trying to reserve himself for the game. Also like Carlos Tevez, you worked with him," Toure said to Ferdinand when asked about Messi.

"One thing is what he does in training. In training you think you're going to lose, but after in the game... it's different. You can see the mentality of these guys. They are totally dedicated to the game. In training, they work, learn and try to maintain their form, but for them the game is everything," he added.

When Rio Ferdinand asked him who the best player he's ever faced is, the answer was the same. "Also Messi. We played against [Barça] in the last Champions League. In fact, we've played against them in the last two seasons. Last year in the dressing room he jokingly said he will nutmeg me. I saw him nutmeg two of my team-mates and thought he'd do it to me. Whenever he came near me I screamed inside 'please not me, don't nutmeg me'. I was afraid he'd embarrass me infront of my family."