I think that peak Xavi and Iniesta rate higher than peak Benzema and Modric. I don’t think it is even debatable.And yet Ronaldo is the one who played with 3 Balon D'or winners and since Ronaldo has left Madrid they've won a UCL and reached the semi finals. Since Messi left Barca they've ended up in the Europa league twice.
Again as usual the whole Argentina being stacked argument relies on mentioning 7 names that can only play in 3 positions, you forgot Lavezzi and Pastore btw.... Portugals second best player was actually Pepe who was a better Centre Back than anyone Messi had during his Argentina career.
Barca was grossly mismanaged in the last few years so they are not as good as Madrid. But then, they weren’t great in Messi’s last couple of years.
I do not see how Argentina vs Portugal is even a debate. Before Messi played for Argentina, they had 4 World Cup finals. Before Ronaldo played for Portugal, they had qualified 3 times for the World Cup. Repeat after me, Argentina had more final appearances than Portugal had World Cup appearances. There is a significant difference in the quality and football tradition of those 2 countries. Not winning the World Cup for Argentina was a failure, qualifying to World Cup for Portugal was a success.
Pepe was a better CB than any that Messi played with, but Ayala, Heinze, Samuel and Otamendi were pretty good player, the last two borderline world class.
Saying that, I think it is obviously clear who has been the better and greater player. Messi is better than Ronaldo at everything except headers and weaker foot. He is as good if not better at scoring, as high-impact, but far better at playmaking and assisting. And way more decorated.
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