Ronaldo vs Ronaldo

MalcolmTucker

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First of all, Messi is not the best footballer of all times. At least not until he proves himself at international level, which he has failed to do over the past 15 years.
Second of all, whether the elastico is easy to do or not , Messi hasn't done it.


That's not an elastico.
You've lost the plot :lol:

Also, have you ever seen Maradona or Platini do an elastico? Is Rashford more talented than them as well?
 

mancan92

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As Nasir already said, sarcasm doesn't mean you are right.
More than half of CR7 and Messi's goals came in friendlies. And even from those scored in official matches, a significant number is against weak teams. CR7 scored many goals against the likes of Luxembourg, Andorra and Faroe Islands.
Plus, overall, Messi and CR7 have played far more games than R9 and ZZ.


Are you for real or are you just trolling ?!? Saying that R9 never carried Brazil ?!?? Go watch his games in the Copa America 97 and 99 and in the 98 and 02 World Cup. R9 had way more big moments than Messi and CR7 combined, neither of which has even managed to score a goal in the KO stage of the World Cup.
When they ain't playing for stacked superclubs, their stats dip bigtime.


From 2010 to around 2016, Messi had a brilliant Argentina squad at his disposal, just as good as the Brazil squad prime R9 had and almost as good as ZZ's France.
Overall, the edge that R9 and ZZ's national teams had over Messi and CR7's is way smaller than the edge Messi and CR7's club teams had over R9 and ZZ's club teams.


Wrong, they are inflated by a huge margin, they'd have half the stats had they played for an average team. Put them in the Napoli and Inter teams Maradona and R9 transferred too, and they'd score 20 goals a season at best.


Were are comparing them against other ATGs here, not against their teammates. Put R9, Maradona, Pele, Van Basten, Baggio etc in the superclubs Messi and CR7 have played for, and they'd match or even exceed their stats.


CR7 has indeed had a better career, but his peak is not higher than that or R9. And CR7 only has those numbers cause he has played in a weaker era for a superclub. R9 could easily match his stats if they were to swap eras.


No, CR7 is not a better player, not by any means.


R9 has more goals at a WC than Messi and CR7 combined, he already is just as big a legend. Their inflated stats won't change that.


Many ATGs had horrible injuries.
- Maradona had his anckle broken aged 23 when he was at Barcelona. He was getting constant injections to bumb the pain so he could play when he was at Napoli. His ankle was swollen and twice as huge in the 90 WC.
- Baggio suffered his first knee injury aged 18. In his first two seasons at Fiorentina he managed only five Serie A appearances.
In total, he had six operations on his knees, four on the right and two on the left. After one injury, they had to drill a hole in his tibia to anchor the tendon, which had been lacerated. He couldn’t take anti-inflammatories because he was allergic. In total, they used 220 internal stitches to re-attach the ligaments in his right knee.
He was not fully fit for more than three or four games a season. Just like Maradona, he had to take painkillers constantly so he could be able to play.
- I''m not gonna go into much details about R9's knee injuries, cause most already know about that. But there's no denying that he was never the same after that. At his peak, he was able to run the 100 metres in 10.2/ 10.3 seconds.
- Del Piero was also never the same after his injuries. He ruptured the anterior and posterior ligaments in his left knee in 98 and he was out for the remainder of the season. He flew to the US for surgery and faced nine months of rehab.


I was a pro footballer, just not in a top league like Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. I simply didn't give my entire name here cause I want to retain a bit of privacy.
And I said that for me the main criteria for judging talent is ball ability, hence why I see R10 as being more talented. I just gave the elastico as an example of a ball skill that Messi can't do.
The fact that you called Argentina a brilliant team shows the lack of knowledge on the subject.

Also CR7 teams are greater? Yet R9 played for the actual golaticos. Its a hilarious post.
 

Bogdannn

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You've lost the plot :lol:

Also, have you ever seen Maradona or Platini do an elastico? Is Rashford more talented than them as well?
I haven't lost any plot. Maradona might not have done an elastico, but he was doing done countless other tricks (like rabonas, nutmegs, roulettes etc). Show me Messi doing rabonas on a consistent basis.
As for Platini, he has never been known for ball skills, so it's not a meaningful comparison.

The fact that you called Argentina a brilliant team shows the lack of knowledge on the subject.

Also CR7 teams are greater? Yet R9 played for the actual golaticos. Its a hilarious post.
The fact that you think Argentina did not have a great team shows yours. All you Messi apologists do is to find excuses for every time he fails.
Whether you like it or not, Argentina did have a very good team in the time span I mentioned. He just wasn't good enough to lead them to any trophies.
He crumbled in every major game he played for them cause he is mentally weak.
As for R9, he played for the Galacticos (not "golacticos", as you misspelled it) when he was past his prime, after his knee injuries. And so were many of the Galacticos.
 

padr81

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I haven't lost any plot. Maradona might not have done an elastico, but he was doing done countless other tricks (like rabonas, nutmegs, roulettes etc). Show me Messi doing rabonas on a consistent basis.
As for Platini, he has never been known for ball skills, so it's not a meaningful comparison.
Nobody gives a bollix about rabona's or tricks. Football is about scoring more goals than the opposition not Rabona's, nutmegs, roulettes etc.. You know who used to do loads of that shit? CR7, then he stopped because he realized it was pointless and putting the ball in the net was football, thats when he became a truly world class footballer. My 13 year old daughter is partial to a rabona, she should be in the PL ahead of De Bruyne? You're having a nightmare here dude...
 

Pocho

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Are we really talking about an elástico? Again :lol::lol::lol:
Someone up here mentioned that Messi had a brilliant NT between 2010 and 2016. I laughed my fking lungs out
 

NasirTimothy

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youtube.com/watch?v=vlHoR2O3bJg&t=1765s
youtube.com/watch?v=PDqqIUOYRV4&t=35s

Actually a decent watch. But there’s an issue that totally scuppers your argument.

Here is a list of players you yourself claimed to be better than ZZ (or more important teammates of his) and where they were ranked in the first video that you provided (Zidane was ranked 29th):

Andrea Pirlo at 99
Thierry Henry at 94
Rivaldo at 89
Andres Iniesta at 59
Roberto Baggio at 56
Ronaldinho at 41
Xavi at 40
Michael Laudrup at 37
Marco Van Basten at 31

Vieira, Thuram, Neymar, Zlatan, Luis Suarez, Nedved and Bergkamp didn’t even make the list. Kaká, Cantona and Gascoigne were not even in the honourable mentions

You claimed that all these players were better than Zidane or more important to his teams than he was, and then you provided a list which suggests that they’re not. Even your own evidence disagrees with you....

No dictionary defines what being the best and being the greatest means.
Who does then? Where did this distinction come from?

Nobody said he wasn't effective al all, my point is there are many others more effective. ZZ played his whole career as a true no. 10, but he has a pitiable goal+assist+chances created / game ratio that doesn't compare his contemporaries, who all put up far superior contributions to their teams in all of goals, assists, actual playmaking, be it from the center or from the wing.
And bare in mind that, just like you, when assessing stats, I take context into consideration (era in which a player evolved, team he played for, quality of teammates and opposition, rules he played by, equipment quality, etc).
To put numbers to a single example, which I selected because of the similar amount of games:

Zidane
played 231 times in 5 seasons for Real Madrid, always as an AM
scored 49 goals, including 9 in the CL/Supercup
made 51 assists, including 10 in the CL/Supercup
played 108 times for France though his career, with 31 goals (including penalties) and 29 assists

Rivaldo
played 235 times in 5 seasons for Barcelona, as an LW (which he disliked) and as an AM
scored 130 goals, including 31 in the CL/Supercup
made 50 assists, including 6 in the CL/Supercup
played 79 times for Brazil, with 37 goals and 18 assists, not a penalty-taker

Yet somehow, highlights-based revisionism twists ZZ into somehow a better, more productive, more efficient, more legendary player than Rivaldo - a player with 80 more goals than ZZ in a similar time-frame, playing in the same position.
Rivaldo played as a second striker as well as playing AM. ZZ was an AM and preferred to create rather than score (except on a few very famous occasions). There’s nothing wrong with that.

I'm not substituting my opinion for anything. Before his injury in 98, the vast majority of Juve fans saw Del Piero as the far superior player. I actually went to some of those matches and saw them both play live. Plus I spoke to many die hard Juve fans, I'm not making this stuff up.
Are you Italian? Do you live in Turin? How many matches did you go to? Genuinely interested to know

It is good enough cause "the difference by which CR7's club career is better than that of ZZ" is way bigger than "the difference by which ZZ's international career is better than CR7's international career.", if that makes sense.
And ZZ was not the best player of the 2006 WC, one game against Brazil does no change that. He simply won that award as a consolation prize, similar to Messi in 2014.
He scored 3 goals, none of which came in that game. So he must have done something else in the tournament outside of that one game....

He was a far better passer than ZZ, and his stats attest to that. He also created far more chances and was a way better goalscorer.
Disagree, except for goalscoring.

I was talking prime vs prime, before Del Piero's injury. It's only logical he never got to that level again.
Disagree again, though I respect ADP

France conceded only 2 goals in the 1998 WC, and they conceded only 3 goals in 2006. In both events, ZZ had only one great game, against Brazil.
In 98, he was red carded after stamping on a player from Saudi Arabia.
France played two games without ZZ, one was against Paraguay and the other was against Denmark. France won both of those games.
Basically France with or without Zidane achieved virtually identical results: 3 goals scored and 1 goal conceded in the 2 games that Zidane did not play; 2 goals scored and 1 goal conceded in the 2 games that Zidane did play.
France also won against Italy and against Croatia, ZZ did nothing in those games either. Apart from the final, he had no great games in 98.
“Apart from the most important game in all of football, he had no great games.” Ok....

I don't have any agenda, I'm just pointing out how overrated he is.
ZZ is between top 20 and top 30 all time, no better than that.
And btw, I agree with many of the points you make, just not about ZZ.
Fair enough. We’ll have to agree to disagree on ZZ then. The original discussion was whether he was among the 5 best players since Maradona. I say he easily is, you say he isn’t, I don’t think we can reach common ground here.
 

KikiDaKats

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Raw skill and ability: R9
Longevity: R7

I always remember young R7 trying to emulate Ronaldinho and R9. I couldn't tell you who R9 was trying to emulate, I think it was just natural. R9's skills with the ball pissed all over R7.
I hated Fat Ronaldo, he was brilliant just brilliant. Still compare point strikers to him and non comes close. It’s hard having C7 s longevity as a point man. I believe C7 is able to stay this long at the top because he plays mainly as wide forward.
He was that good I remember Ayala elbowing him in a Milan derby I was celebrating. The best 1 v 1 I’ve ever seen ( be it the defender/keeper).
 

RedRonaldo

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Ironic, as your response was also pretty long




No it wasn’t. I watched a programme not too long ago which was called the 50 greatest moments in World Cup history (up to 2018). Zidane and Luis Ronaldo both featured, Messi and C. Ronaldo were conspicuous by their absence. Of course the top moments were occupied by the usual suspects, Maradona and Pele. I didn’t see any mention of Paul Pogba or Kleberson. I know you totally understand the point I am making but are being wilfully obtuse about it.



I think you seriously need to look into the history of the Ballon D’Or and how the awarding of it has changed, if that’s all you’re hanging your argument on. You always seem to ignore historical differences and judge everything by modern day standards (a common fallacy with people who think that Messi and Ronaldo are unique in football history).

Muller’s Bayern won 3 straight ECs, at a time when you had to be the champion of your country (or of the EC) to compete. If those were the rules now, I think CR would have maybe 1 or 2 CLs. Also, it goes without saying that Muller won both the WC and the EC, claiming the golden boot in both (Muller broke the WC all time goals record and it stood for almost 40 years until Luis Ronaldo passed him). Muller also scored in 2 EC finals, the Euros final and the winning goal in the World Cup final. In terms of goals per game, he is still the most prolific goalscorer in EC/CL history. At international level he has a far superior goal ratio to both Messi and and CR.

Re the total trophies, you have to understand that Muller didn’t play for financially doped up superclubs. Messi and Ronaldo are much less successful when they are not playing with some of the most expensively assembled squads in history, or the products of multi-million euro (€) academies that steal players from all around the world. Bayern were not a majorly successful club in the days before the Muller/Beckenbauer era (as an astute poster on this board pointed out to me). Obviously I’m not saying Muller was a better all round player, but it’s hilarious that you can just dismiss his successful career based on nothing more than recency bias.



Well you’d be wrong. Trophies are won by teams. If you participated properly and you get a medal, then it counts. I’d understand this argument for Luis Ronaldo in WC 1994 or Kaká in 2002, but Messi put in some excellent performances that year (I’m pretty sure that was the year he ran Chelsea ragged)



My facts are right, what is not right is your understanding of history or context. Ronaldo began playing at a senior professional level in 1993, and it was not until 3 years later that he went to what we would term a big club in Barcelona. If he was playing today, there is no way his first landing spot in Europe would have been PSV. Indeed he may have been signed by a European superclub as a child.

Ronaldo had a goal a game record at PSV, and if he was getting those numbers at a bigger club, he would have been in contention for the BDO in 94 and 95 (had he been eligible in 94, which he wasn’t).

The Ballon D’Or has a long history but it is a European award and its increasing importance in the world game is symbolic of the centring of the world club game in a few European superclubs in recent years.



Obviously you are correct in saying that is is silly to compare the goal records of eg C. Ronaldo and Zidane. But if you understand football, you’ll know that assists alone are a very poor measure of creativity. Luis Suarez has more career assists than Andres Iniesta, who is the more creative player?



It’s not an in depth comparison at all. I’d respectfully submit that it is quite a shallow comparison based on 3 things that are not fixed entities. I brought up Maradona previously and then all of a sudden you started adding context to the debate that was totally absent from your arguments previously. But the point remains. Diego Maradona has 8 major trophies and 300 odd career goals. Why is he still considered by many knowledgeable people to be the greatest player of all time?




If we’re using dodgy metaphors, I guess I’ll have to play along and explain that possessing something of true value (i.e. gold), can in certain circumstances make you richer than obtaining the transitory value of paper money or money with no physical manifestation at all......
You are not making any sense in some of your response, I don’t know whether it’s a case of you trying to cover your own mistake, or just you honestly think that way. To avoid keep on dragging forever, I’ll just keep it straight to the point.

1. Pogba was key player in WC winning squad, it make no sense for you to suddenly bring up Pele and Maradona, we are comparing with Zidane, Ronaldinho and L.Ronaldo all along.

2. Bayern won 3 CL but Beckenbauer was their best player, who had won 3 Ballon D’or, not Muller. Muller only has 1 Ballon D’or, the best player in his era were clearly Cruyff (3 Ballon D’or) and Beckenbauer (3 Ballon D’or). Are you trying to say Muller is better than Beckenbauer/Cruyff, or you just don’t think individual honors worth any mention when accessing players career?

3. Are you really suggesting Ronaldo should have won Ballon D’or in 93-94? Seriously? I’ll stop here if you meant every word you said. It meaningless to discuss any further if you are totally out of your mind.

4. For your information, Ronaldo won his FIFA award in 96, 97, 02. He didn’t win any award before Ballon D’or introduce players from all origin in 1995. The only difference there is that he won FIFA award in 1996 where he finished runners up in Ballon D’or same year. So why would you think he should win Ballon D’or in 93-94 is beyond mystery, especially when best player in world during 93-94 are clearly Romario, Baggio etc. Ronaldo was just an unknown kid back then.

5. Well there is clearly huge gap when the magnitude of difference of stats is something like 700-800 goals vs 300-400 goals. You can’t say stats isn’t important at all, otherwise you can also say there’s no gap/difference between Pele and Martial in terms of goalscoring over their career. It just isn’t true.

6. We are comparing players career here , I have presented in depth all the traditional matrix everyone use to access a players career, namely major trophies, Ballon D’or, total no of trophies, individual stats and records, those are all the important highlights of players career everyone would talk about for years. If you have any issues with any of those, you can counter propose your own matrix. Just that 99% of people out there may not agree with you. But at least we can keep this discussion relevant to the topic.
 
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Bogdannn

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Nobody gives a bollix about rabona's or tricks. Football is about scoring more goals than the opposition not Rabona's, nutmegs, roulettes etc.. You know who used to do loads of that shit? CR7, then he stopped because he realized it was pointless and putting the ball in the net was football, thats when he became a truly world class footballer. My 13 year old daughter is partial to a rabona, she should be in the PL ahead of De Bruyne? You're having a nightmare here dude...
Rabonas and tricks are not as irrelevant as you think since spectacular football attracts viewers and thus money for the sport.
But I agree with you that in the end goals are more important.
Nobody said that the guy who can do more tricks is necessarily the better footballer, I simply mentioned one's technique/ability to control de ball as a measure of talent on a thread that was dedicated to that topic.
 

Bogdannn

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You claimed that all these players were better than Zidane or more important to his teams than he was, and then you provided a list which suggests that they’re not. Even your own evidence disagrees with you....
My own evidence doesn't disagree with me since you only asked me to provide you with a list where ZZ isn't top 10. I did just that so that you can see that others don't see ZZ as being top 10. I never said I completely agree with all the players on this list or their positions, I just agree about ZZ's placement.

Are you Italian? Do you live in Turin? How many matches did you go to? Genuinely interested to know
I'm not Italian and I don't live in Turin. My father had business associates there and from the better part of the 90s he'd use to travel to Italy every weekend. I'd tag along with him and I'd get to go to matches. I saw many superstars like Baggio, R9, Batistuta, Del Piero, Maldini, Baresi, Cannavaro, Buffon, Nesta etc - playing live. It was a great era for football.

Disagree, except for goalscoring.
Ok, but the stats contradict you. Platini created and assisted more.

“Apart from the most important game in all of football, he had no great games.” Ok....
I agree that was a big moment, but him having 1 great game doesn't mean he played well the whole event.

Fair enough. We’ll have to agree to disagree on ZZ then. The original discussion was whether he was among the 5 best players since Maradona. I say he easily is, you say he isn’t, I don’t think we can reach common ground here.
No, I don't think he is, but each his own I guess.
At least we agree on many other things.
 

RedRonaldo

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Interesting read, in my opinion R9 > CR7. My case in a nutshell here:

1. The most important achievement in world football is the World Cup. Not the UCL. Posters that demerit the WC in favor of the UCL contradict themselves when they compare players to the all-time greats like Pelé and Maradona (both WC winners with no UCL), not Di Stefano or Gento (both very respected but usually out of the GOAT debate). They also say that winning a 7 match tournament is easier, therefore ignoring that the current greatests of this time have failed to do so 4 times in a row.

2. Amounts of trophies are not a good tie breaker since only a handful of club and NT international tournaments are actually relevant and could ve considered (WC, UCL, Euro or Copa América are, PL or Brasileirao aren't). Without R9's WC, this would be the deciding factor, and is probably the best argument for CR7.

3. Individual trophies mean very little in team sports, as much as team competitions don't matter much in individual sports like tennis for example.

4. Stats are fantastic for comparing players of similar eras, but it gets difficult and subjective to compare between eras. That said, their stats are pretty similar (0,6-0,7 in clubs and NT).
In other words, Ronaldinho > Messi, base on your 4 points presented above.
 

Zehner

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First of all, Messi is not the best footballer of all times. At least not until he proves himself at international level, which he has failed to do over the past 15 years.
Second of all, whether the elastico is easy to do or not , Messi hasn't done it.


That's not an elastico.
Of course that's an elastico. The movement is the same even if the situation in which it was applied is different. R9 had a few very similar ones to this one, by the way.

Not that it matters anyway. Tricks aren't mandatory, they're a stylistic device, a means to an end. If you can accomplish the same without a trick, it doesn't matter which way you did it.
 

MalcolmTucker

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I haven't lost any plot. Maradona might not have done an elastico, but he was doing done countless other tricks (like rabonas, nutmegs, roulettes etc). Show me Messi doing rabonas on a consistent basis.
As for Platini, he has never been known for ball skills, so it's not a meaningful comparison.
Why does your ridiculous logic not apply to Platini? How is he exempt? You're in here saying Platini is better than Zidane because he has more goals and assists and was more effective, yet Zidane was the more flashier player. Meanwhile, Ronaldinho is a more talented player because he does more elasticos and rabonas than Messi :lol:

Messi doesn't do flashy tricks, nor did Platini. Doesn't make them less talented and you can't apply logic to one and not the other.

Show me Messi doing rabonas on a consistent basis.
:lol: Well done though this actually made me laugh out loud. Coming from an ex-professional player of course. You sound about 11 years old mate.
 
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Zehner

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I've watched those videos and many like it. Hell, when I was a kid I used to edit football compilations of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and CR7 as a hobby :lol:

R9 is one of my favourite footballers and his highlights are unreal, but with the proliferation of match highlights on youtube, I've revisited some of his most iconic games; the final against Lazio, the insane game against Valencia and lots his time in Barcelona and Inter. The reason I said I want you to find 5 videos of Ronaldo having analogous matches showcasing his dribbling is because I could only find a couple myself. There are many many match highlights of R9's early career, literally hundreds on this channel alone, so it won't be too difficult if what you say is true. Fact is, I've looked back at his games and it's not the case - looking at a compilation isn't the same.



So obviously a lie, there's no way someone who played professional football can think the elastico is actually difficult to do. Any professional footballer can do it - you can go down to a 5-a-side league on any given weekday and see overweight show-offs and weed smoking kids pulling off perfect elasticos yet you really think Messi, arguably the best footballer of all time can't? I'd be surprised if you've ever kicked a ball in your life tbh :lol:

Anyway he does one here - not that it proves anything
As I said, I don't think the conditions are the same since Messi played primarily during the social media age and R9's happened way before that. So I think it's generally harder to find highlight compilations from individual games, especially snce those kind of videos only became popular in the last five years or so. I remember the first football clips on YouTube, with all kinds of flashy effects like flames around the ball, lightnings etc :D And even that was way after R9's prime.

So I don't know if he had fewer games like the ones you cited but I think if you make a compilation of R9's dribbling highlights in those Barca and Inter years, it won't be any less impressive than a compilation of Messi's best dribbling highlights over a span of 3 years.

But I totally get your points and you might very well be right. Personally I believe that some of the scenes in the videos I posted prove that R9 had close control and agility similar to Messi's although he might have been less consistent with those things. Anyway, let's just agree that both were/are absolutely brillant dribblers ;)
 

Zehner

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I haven't lost any plot. Maradona might not have done an elastico, but he was doing done countless other tricks (like rabonas, nutmegs, roulettes etc). Show me Messi doing rabonas on a consistent basis.
As for Platini, he has never been known for ball skills, so it's not a meaningful comparison.


The fact that you think Argentina did not have a great team shows yours. All you Messi apologists do is to find excuses for every time he fails.
Whether you like it or not, Argentina did have a very good team in the time span I mentioned. He just wasn't good enough to lead them to any trophies.
He crumbled in every major game he played for them cause he is mentally weak.
As for R9, he played for the Galacticos (not "golacticos", as you misspelled it) when he was past his prime, after his knee injuries. And so were many of the Galacticos.
Just out of curiosity, what do you think is the advantage of doing a rabona? To me that trick is like the embodiment of the inefficient trickster. It won't help you, it only makes the pass/shot more difficult than it has to be. And not even players like Maradona or Ronaldinho could really control where the ball would end up. I just don't see the point in it, it's totally inefficient. I think that's also the reason why even Maradona and Ronaldinho used it very rarely if at all.
 

NasirTimothy

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You are not making any sense in some of your response, I don’t know whether it’s a case of you trying to cover your own mistake, or just you honestly think that way. To avoid keep on dragging forever, I’ll just keep it straight to the point.
The typical response of the C.Ronaldo/Messi fan whose world view is challenged.

1. Pogba was key player in WC winning squad, it make no sense for you to suddenly bring up Pele and Maradona, we are comparing with Zidane, Ronaldinho and L.Ronaldo all along.
It made sense. Luis Ronaldo and Zidane are World Cup icons, like Pele and Maradona. Messi and Ronaldo are not. Bringing up Paul Pogba and Kleberson is simply a poor and misguided attempt to distract from this fact. Why is this so hard for you to understand?


2. Bayern won 3 CL but Beckenbauer was their best player, who had won 3 Ballon D’or, not Muller. Muller only has 1 Ballon D’or, the best player in his era were clearly Cruyff (3 Ballon D’or) and Beckenbauer (3 Ballon D’or). Are you trying to say Muller is better than Beckenbauer/Cruyff, or you just don’t think individual honors worth any mention when accessing players career?
No individual honours are definitely worth something but what they mean and how they are distributed changes over time, especially in the club game. If Muller was playing today, he would have won the Ballon D’Or more than once. I’ve already explained why someone like DiStefano doesn’t have more than 2 despite the fact that his Real Madrid won 5 straight ECs with him as the unquestioned leader, scoring in every final.

For example, everyone makes a big deal of Messi’s 91 goal year when he broke Miller’s 85 goal record from 1972. Did Muller win the Ballon D’Or that year? Of course not. I think that a guy playing currently and scoring 85 goals whilst winning the Euros and the Bundesliga would win the Ballon D’Or over a defender.

3. Are you really suggesting Ronaldo should have won Ballon D’or in 93-94? Seriously? I’ll stop here if you meant every word you said. It meaningless to discuss any further if you are totally out of your mind.
I said Luis Ronaldo was not eligible for the award for a small part of his career, a part of his career when he was top scoring in two different leagues and being placed in teams of the year. That is a fact. Whether he would have won or been in contention is a different question. I also made general points about the schism between the WPOTY and the Ballon D’Or. If they were fused at the time, how many would Ronaldo have? 3 or 1?

4. For your information, Ronaldo won his FIFA award in 96, 97, 02. He didn’t win any award before Ballon D’or introduce players from all origin in 1995. The only difference there is that he won FIFA award in 1996 where he finished runners up in Ballon D’or same year. So why would you think he should win Ballon D’or in 93-94 is beyond mystery, especially when best player in world during 93-94 are clearly Romario, Baggio etc. Ronaldo was just an unknown kid back then.
He wasn’t an unknown kid back then but that speaks to your lack of knowledge of the period

5. Well there is clearly huge gap when the magnitude of difference of stats is something like 700-800 goals vs 300-400 goals. You can’t say stats isn’t important at all, otherwise you can also say there’s no gap/difference between Pele and Martial in terms of goalscoring over their career. It just isn’t true.
Your stats left out something crucial: games played. Repost with those and we can perhaps have a proper contextual discussion, though it seems pointless because you’ve totally bought into the lie that this era is superior to all others

6. We are comparing players career here , I have presented in depth all the traditional matrix everyone use to access a players career, namely major trophies, Ballon D’or, total no of trophies, individual stats and records, those are all the important highlights of players career everyone would talk about for years. If you have any issues with any of those, you can counter propose your own matrix. Just that 99% of people out there may not agree with you. But at least we can keep this discussion relevant to the topic.
And everyone will talk about for years that Messi and (especially) Ronaldo were not great World Cup players. Does your ‘matrix’ give sufficient weight to that fact or not? I’d argue no.

Luis Ronaldo’s career goal to game ratio is 0.67. C. Ronaldo’s is 0.75. That’s with LR having to come back basically from career ending injuries in his early 20s. Let’s add some depth to your ‘matrix’......

Have Messi and Ronaldo had overall better careers? Probably yes. Is the gap as vast as you are trying to make out? No. But when people worship individual players, it’s hard to make them see the truth....

One thing I find interesting about Messi and Ronaldo fans. They will each slag off the rival player till the cows come home, but when someone brings up a player from another era, they unite like Volton to rubbish that guy. It then becomes ‘Messi and Ronaldo are the two best players of all time and it’s not even close!’

It’s quite amusing......
 

MalcolmTucker

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As I said, I don't think the conditions are the same since Messi played primarily during the social media age and R9's happened way before that. So I think it's generally harder to find highlight compilations from individual games, especially snce those kind of videos only became popular in the last five years or so.
I'm happy to agree both are two of the best dribblers of all time, but I do take issue with you saying it's generally harder to find match highlights of Ronaldo as all of R9's legendary games are online and this channel alone has hundreds of lesser known games from his peak as well - I've watched a heap of them myself and made my own mind up
https://www.youtube.com/user/ronaldogodmagic/videos

You can prefer Ronaldo's dribbling compilation video more than Messi's, but it's not true to say there isn't enough videos of Ronaldo's matches as there are, you're just choosing not to watch them. If you get the time to go back and watch them (I suggest you do, as he was such a direct and fearless player), I'd be interested to see if your opinion changes on who is the better dribbler.
 

Zehner

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I'm happy to agree both are two of the best dribblers of all time, but I do take issue with you saying it's generally harder to find match highlights of Ronaldo as all of R9's legendary games are online and this channel alone has hundreds of lesser known games from his peak as well - I've watched a heap of them myself and made my own mind up
https://www.youtube.com/user/ronaldogodmagic/videos

You can prefer Ronaldo's dribbling compilation video more than Messi's, but it's not true to say there isn't enough videos of Ronaldo's matches as there are, you're just choosing not to watch them. If you get the time to go back and watch them (I suggest you do, as he was such a direct and fearless player), I'd be interested to see if your opinion changes on who is the better dribbler.
Well, hard to argue against that. Didn't know that there were so many R9 match compilations and I'm pretty surprised right now. left a subscription there and I'll definitely watch a few of them when I have the time, thanks for sharing!
 

owlo

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I largely agree that both messi and Ronaldo are superior to R9 at their peak over a season. Messi is probably superior in individual aggregated moments too.

An interesting hypothetical for @Zehner @MalcolmTucker etc though: You’re playing a cup final against an inferior team. Who do you fear most as your opponent (at their peaks ) ? Messi, R7, or R9?
 

Bogdannn

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..... You're in here saying Platini is better than Zidane because he has more goals and assists and was more effective, yet Zidane was the more flashier player. Meanwhile, Ronaldinho is a more talented player because he does more elasticos and rabonas than Messi :lol:
What part of my comments don't you understand ?!? It's like I'm speaking English and you're speaking Chinese. I'm talking about apples and you're talking about oranges.
I said Platini is better and I gave arguments as to why, I never said he's more talented.
I also said Ronaldinho is more talented and I gave arguments as to why, I never said he's also better.
Being more talented is one thing, being better is another, they are entirely different things. Now do you understand ?!??
 

Zehner

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I largely agree that both messi and Ronaldo are superior to R9 at their peak over a season. Messi is probably superior in individual aggregated moments too.

An interesting hypothetical for @Zehner @MalcolmTucker etc though: You’re playing a cup final against an inferior team. Who do you fear most as your opponent (at their peaks ) ? Messi, R7, or R9?
I'd probably opt for Messi. I think this typical scenario of a clearly superior team playing a clearly inferior team parking the bus with team A completely dominating is more of a modern era occurence so we didn't really see R9 in those situations too often.

And to this date I haven't seen a player better at breaking down a defensive line than Messi. When Barca dominates possession and "besieges" the opponent box, with Messi seing lots of the ball, he's absolutely lethal. The meltdowns Barca had in the CL in the past years usually occur when the team as a whole doesn't perform, gives away the ball too often, is pressed heavily, etc. But when they are focused and get Messi into dangerous positions, he'll always find a way.

CR7 is different, IMO. He's better if you don't really have creative forces in your team (this will never be the case as long as you have Messi) and try to force a goal. I believe a team with Messi in it will be better at creating chances and dominating the opponent while CR7 increases your chances to decide the tie in your favor with very few plays. I think that's the case for the most remarkable performances both have been shown in the CL, too. CR7's legendary games against Bayern, Juve etc. usually saw him participating hardly at all but then being there in the decisive moments while Messi is usually on the ball a lot and has much more plays during a game, contributing to a surplus of chances for his team.
 

MalcolmTucker

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I largely agree that both messi and Ronaldo are superior to R9 at their peak over a season. Messi is probably superior in individual aggregated moments too.

An interesting hypothetical for @Zehner @MalcolmTucker etc though: You’re playing a cup final against an inferior team. Who do you fear most as your opponent (at their peaks ) ? Messi, R7, or R9?
Difficult, I was only 6-9 when R9 was at his peak so I can't trust my memories although I do remember the excitement whenever he got the ball at WC98. Watching highlights back isn't the same really but the fact he was so direct and athletically superior to his peers makes him a unique and fearful opponent.

I absolutely hated Messi and Barcelona back when he was at his peak. Every time he got the ball in those CL finals and semi-finals I was bricking it. Watched one of the finals in a pub in Budapest surrounded by Barcelona fans and took the loss like an complete baby :lol:

CR7, certainly is less of a consistent threat, but when he was at his peak he could score from 40 yards, dribble or finish in any form. He does offer an aerial threat and I remember when he's played against us for Madrid and Juventus, feeling nervous every time their wide players shaped to put a cross in.

Even though I think Messi is a better player, I think R9 and Messi are on a par as R9 was such a physical phenomenon. This may just be nostalgia colouring my opinion though.
 

paraguayo

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Cristiano Ronaldo looks like a stiff board out there, and for the past years. Just fishing for goals like Inzaghi.

Yes he had a better career, but R9 never looked so talentless on a pitch. Even fat and past it, he showed more quality in one toe nail than most attackers. I don't get why lot of people are so salty that most preferred to watch R9. Even some people with the guts to rewrite history and say there was some version of Cristiano where he had the same dribbling and finesse of R9, hahahaha.
 

Bogdannn

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I largely agree that both messi and Ronaldo are superior to R9 at their peak over a season. Messi is probably superior in individual aggregated moments too.

An interesting hypothetical for @Zehner @MalcolmTucker etc though: You’re playing a cup final against an inferior team. Who do you fear most as your opponent (at their peaks ) ? Messi, R7, or R9?
CR7 and Messi are not superior to R9 at their peak over a season.
As for your second question, although you didn't ask me, I'd pick R9 in a heartbeat.

Cristiano Ronaldo looks like a stiff board out there, and for the past years. Just fishing for goals like Inzaghi.

Yes he had a better career, but R9 never looked so talentless on a pitch. Even fat and past it, he showed more quality in one toe nail than most attackers. I don't get why lot of people are so salty that most preferred to watch R9. Even some people with the guts to rewrite history and say there was some version of Cristiano where he had the same dribbling and finesse of R9, hahahaha.
Brilliant post.

Could R9 even move at 36?
What's the relevance of that ?! R9 suffered from hypothiroidism.
 

RedRonaldo

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Cristiano Ronaldo looks like a stiff board out there, and for the past years. Just fishing for goals like Inzaghi.

Yes he had a better career, but R9 never looked so talentless on a pitch. Even fat and past it, he showed more quality in one toe nail than most attackers. I don't get why lot of people are so salty that most preferred to watch R9. Even some people with the guts to rewrite history and say there was some version of Cristiano where he had the same dribbling and finesse of R9, hahahaha.
Well let me just remind you. R9 has been terrible since he reach his 30s

R9
At 30: 4 goals in 13 games
At 31 7 goals in 14 games
At 32: 2 goals in 6 games
At 33: no longer up to standard to play in Europe, move back to Brazil league, 23 goals in 38 games
At 34: 12 goals in 26 games in Brazil league
At 35, 0 goals in 4 games in Brazil league
At 36: Retired as fat man, unable to play professional football even at Brazil league

CR7
Age 30-35, scored over 300 goals, average 50 goals per season.
At 36: Still slim and fit, currently top scorer in Serie A

Yeh never look so talentless my ass. No matter how you tried to twist it, CR7 at 36 is still easily far better than R9 at 30-35.
 
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Bogdannn

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Well let me just remind you. R9 has been terrible since he reach his 30s

R9
At 30: 4 goals in 13 games
At 31 7 goals in 14 games
At 32: 2 goals in 6 games
At 33: no longer up to standard to play in Europe, move back to Brazil league, 23 goals in 38 games
At 34: 12 goals in 26 games in Brazil league
At 35, 0 goals in 4 games in Brazil league
At 36: Retired as fat man, unable to play professional football even at Brazil league

CR7
Age 30-35, scored over 300 goals, average 50 goals per season.
At 36: Still slim and fit, currently top scorer in Serie A

Yeh never look so talentless my ass. No matter how you tried to twist it, CR7 at 36 is still easily far better than R9 at 30-35.
Cause R9 had his knees broken aged 23 and suffered from hypothiroidism.
Or is that irrelevant in your mind ???
Plus "paraguayo" was talking about how good/skilled one looked with the ball at his feet, not how effective he still was at that age
 

RedRonaldo

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Cause R9 had his knees broken aged 23 and suffered from hypothiroidism.
Or is that irrelevant in your mind ???
Plus "paraguayo" was talking about how good/skilled one looked with the ball at his feet, not how effective he still was at that age
Whatever problem he has, he was terrible footballer when he reached his 30s. He can’t even play or score in Brazil league, and he is not up to required standard to play in Europe top league, and he is fat and slow and couldn’t move his ass on the pitch. How can one assume he is still good on ball in every games he played? Ridiculous logic.
 

paraguayo

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Well let me just remind you. R9 has been terrible since he reach his 30s

R9
At 30: 4 goals in 13 games
At 31 7 goals in 14 games
At 32: 2 goals in 6 games
At 33: no longer up to standard to play in Europe, move back to Brazil league, 23 goals in 38 games
At 34: 12 goals in 26 games in Brazil league
At 35, 0 goals in 4 games in Brazil league
At 36: Retired as fat man, unable to play professional football even at Brazil league

CR7
Age 30-35, scored over 300 goals, average 50 goals per season.
At 36: Still slim and fit, currently top scorer in Serie A

Yeh never look so talentless my ass. No matter how you tried to twist it, CR7 at 36 is still easily far better than R9 at 30-35.
Of the top players (Maraodna, R9, Messi etc) of all time, CR7 is the fish out of water in the eye test. Even fat Ronaldo oozed class whenever he received a ball.

CR7 today lacked basic coordination and finesse. No version of the other top players have ever looked so mediocre technically. Numbers wise, sure, thats what Cristiano lives for.

Cristiano has cussed out teammates in 8-0 blowouts because they didn't square a tap in for the 9-0. Imagine if R9 cared so much about stats haha.
 

RedRonaldo

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Of the top players (Maraodna, R9, Messi etc) of all time, CR7 is the fish out of water in the eye test. Even fat Ronaldo oozed class whenever he received a ball.

CR7 today lacked basic coordination and finesse. No version of the other top players have ever looked so mediocre technically. Numbers wise, sure, thats what Cristiano lives for.

Cristiano has cussed out teammates in 8-0 blowouts because they didn't square a tap in for the 9-0. Imagine if R9 cared so much about stats haha.
He has a bad game, no one disagree with that. But that doesn’t mean he has bad season, nor does that mean R9 or Maradona didn’t have any bad games at all. You are just overreacting and giving out knee jerk judgement upon one bad game. Maradona and R9 during their 30s were far far worse and had far far more bad games than CR7. Don’t pretend this isn’t a case.
 

Sarni

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Of the top players (Maraodna, R9, Messi etc) of all time, CR7 is the fish out of water in the eye test. Even fat Ronaldo oozed class whenever he received a ball.

CR7 today lacked basic coordination and finesse. No version of the other top players have ever looked so mediocre technically. Numbers wise, sure, thats what Cristiano lives for.

Cristiano has cussed out teammates in 8-0 blowouts because they didn't square a tap in for the 9-0. Imagine if R9 cared so much about stats haha.
Yeah 'fat' Ronaldo was still class at 27-28. Not a 30+, he didn't 'ooze class' then. CR is scoring 20 goals in 22 games in the league at 36 (after scoring 31 the season before).
 

Gehrman

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CR7 and Messi are not superior to R9 at their peak over a season.
As for your second question, although you didn't ask me, I'd pick R9 in a heartbeat.


Brilliant post.


What's the relevance of that ?! R9 suffered from hypothiroidism.
I'd take Messi's 91 goal season over anyones. Still doesn't mean I don't consider R9 in his prime up there with the very best.
 

Black Adder

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Not bad for someone with no knees, serious health problems, not training properly and living large (fecking trannies, drinking, smoking).

On the other side Critistiano has personal chef, personal trainer, sleep patterns to follow, all the sports science available yet can't out run Buffon in training.
 

giorno

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Are we really talking about an elástico? Again :lol::lol::lol:
Someone up here mentioned that Messi had a brilliant NT between 2010 and 2016. I laughed my fking lungs out
2014 word cup final, 2015 copa america final, 2016 copa america final

That wasn't a brilliant team???? In what world???

And Messi did have an absolutely stacked NT talent-wise throughout his career. Bad choices of managers, injuries and a lack of strong mentality were their downfall, but it's not like Messi wasn't guilty of poor performances either
 

Trezeguet17

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Altough the thread is called Ronaldo vs Ronaldo i knew this would turn out in another Ronaldo vs Messi thread.

As for the actual question: CR7 over R9 in terms of peak and career for me
 

L1nk

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Better peak - Cristiano
Better career - Cristiano

Better raw natural talent - Ronaldo

Only thing Cristiano's missing really is the World Cup, however his peak at Real is unmatched by virtually all footballers except maybe Messi in terms of output, 450 goals in 438 games is insane

However, i preferred watching Ronaldo at his peak and he definitely had the better natural ability, he would most likely and unquestionably had the better of both if he could stay fit and have a long a peak as Cristiano, which he could not.