Argentine star Lionel Messi led the list of the highest-paid players by a large margin ahead of his Portuguese rivals Cristiano Ronaldo, and Argentine Diego Simeone topped the ranking of the highest-paid coaches.

The British newspaper Daily Mail reported that Messi gets an annual salary - before taxes - of $ 148 million, and Ronaldo gets about 63 million.

Despite the financial difficulties facing Barcelona, ​​the club management did not skimp on the Argentine star and granted him an annual salary of more than $ 9.7 million, almost twice the salary Ronaldo gets with Juventus, estimated at 5.2 million.

Brazilian Neymar da Silva, the French winger of Paris Saint-Germain, is third, with an annual salary before taxes of $ 43 million.

And in fourth place, Frenchman Antoine Griezmann, the star of Barcelona's attack, gets an annual salary of about $ 41 million, equal to his former Barcelona colleague, Uruguayan Luis Suarez.

On the other hand, Argentine Diego Simeone, coach of Atletico Madrid, topped the list of the highest paid coaches in the world, with an annual salary of $ 48 million before taxes, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.

And in second place is Pep Guardiola, the English coach of Manchester City, who gets an annual salary of $ 32 million.

Tottenham Hotspur coach Jose Mourinho is third, with a salary of $ 27 million.

Despite his great success with Real Madrid and winning 3 consecutive Champions League titles, Zidane is away from the top of the ranking in the list of the highest-paid coaches, and it is estimated that he receives about $ 25 million.