Paulo Dybala is a very lucky man.

The Juventus forward, who is currently being chased by Manchester United, has the rare privilege of sharing teams and starting XI's with both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Widely considered as the two greatest players of our generation, you would think that plenty of players would have featured alongside Ronaldo and Messi over the years.

However, considering Messi has only played for one club team in Barcelona and that Ronaldo isn't far behind with just four side, the room for crossovers shrink incredibly.

In fact, there are only two men who have ever played club football with both players - Gerard Pique and Henrik Larsson - who have Manchester United and Barcelona spells in common.

Dybala's dream teammates

But the club is made slightly larger by international duties with, naturally, both players' club sides featuring players from the footballing nations of Argentina and Portugal.

That's exactly where Dybala comes into things by playing week in, week out alongside Ronaldo, only to occasionally return to South America to share the pitch with Messi.

And until the day that Messi and Ronaldo feature in the same team, that club will remain incredibly small and the number stands at a surprisingly pitiful 12 at the time of writing.

The exclusive Messi-Ronaldo club

That's right, despite it now being 17 years since Ronaldo made his professional debut, the crossover club only gains a new member every 1.5 years on average.

So, according to the calculations of the The Sportsman, here are the select 12 players who have lived all of our dreams and shared a team with both Ronaldo and Messi: 

Gerard Pique (Manchester United and Barcelona)

Andre Gomes (Portugal and Barcelona)

Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid and Argentina)

Henrik Larsson (Manchester United and Barcelona)

Nelson Semedo (Portugal and Barcelona)

Ezequiel Garay (Real Madrid and Argentina)

Deco (Portugal and Barcelona)

Fernando Gago (Real Madrid and Argentina)

Gabriel Heinze (Manchester Untied and Argentina)

Angel di Maria (Real Madrid and Argentina)

Carlos Tevez (Manchester United and Argentina)

Paulo Dybala (Juventus and Argentina)

They are 12 incredibly lucky human beings and to think there's only just enough of them to make a football team. 

Of course, they also happen to be the 12 players best-placed to judge which players is better and, in turn, likely to decide whether Messi or Ronaldo is the greatest of all time.

If we're talking about Dybala, though, it seems the forward is keeping tight-lipped while both players are his teammates and he's understandably determined to sit on the fence. 

“It is impossible to make a comparison between the two of them or say who is the best because they are at a level on a par with each other and well above everybody else and that has been the case for several years," the 25-year-old explained.

“Cristiano's a champion and it's always a pleasure to play with guys like him. Ronaldo makes things that are very difficult actually seem easy."

Who do you think is the better player - Ronaldo or Messi? Have your say in the comments section below.