Messi or Ronaldo, check who is highest-paid footballer

According to the list published by L’Equipe, the Barcelona star earns €8.3 million a month, with the Juventus forward’s salary equalling €4.7m
Lionel Messi’s monthly salary of €8.3 million (£7.3m/$9.5m) makes him the highest-paid footballer in Europe, ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and Neymar.

French publication L’Equipe has released its annual report of the top salaries in football and it is no surprise to see the Barcelona and Juventus stars at the very top of the list.

The top 10 is made up entirely of players from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1, with the Bundesliga not having a single representative.

And it’s Messi who leads the way, with Barcelona’s talisman and current top scorer in La Liga earning a reported €8.3m (£7.3m/$9.5m) a month before tax.

Ronaldo, who is in his first year with Juventus, is listed in second place with a salary of €4.7m (£4.1m/$5.3m), just over half of the amount of the Argentine.

Atletico Madrid and France World Cup winner Griezmann follows in third, earning €3.3m (£2.9m/$3.7m) thanks to the new deal that he signed with the club after his decision to snub Barcelona.

Neymar, meanwhile, is fourth with €3.06m (£2.7m/$3.5m) and Messi’s Barca team-mate Luis Suarez completes the top five, earning €2.9m (£2.5m/$3.3m).

Wales international Gareth Bale is sixth on the list, with earnings of €2.5m (£2.2m/$2.8m) at the Bernabeu and he is the sole Real Madrid representative in the top 10.

Barcelona, meanwhile, have three in the top 10 as, in addition to Messi and Suarez, Philippe Coutinho is placed in seventh, earning €2.3m (£2m/$2.6m) after signing with the Liga club from Liverpool in January 2018.

The first Premier League representative is Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez, who earns around $2.28m (£1.99m/$2.58m) per month at Old Trafford and features in eighth in the list.

PSG are once again recognised with Neymar’s team-mate Kylian Mbappe taking home a sum of $1.73m (£1.5m/$2m).

Rounding off the top 10 is another Premier League player in Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, who is credited with a salary of €1.6m (£1.4m/$1.8m) per month with the Gunners.

The highest-earning Bundesliga player, meanwhile, is Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski, who missed out on the top 10 but earns a €1.33m (£1.2m/$1.5m) monthly salary.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, all five of Ligue 1’s top earners play for PSG, with Edinson Cavani, Thiago Silva, and Angel Di Maria behind both Neymar and Mbappe.

Top 10: Football’s highest earners