Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr

Really? You mean the following "lacked that genius that other greats possessed"? Seriously? I think most of the "other greats" would love to have the "genius" required to score these:




Or perhaps these:



The natural gift this man had was incredible. Just magical. Two things that really annoy me is how people don't realize how much natural talent Ronaldo had and how dedicated physically Messi is to his fitness, diet etc. People only seem to mention the opposite as if Ronaldo was just a fitness freak and Messi pure natural talent.
 
The natural gift this man had was incredible. Just magical. Two things that really annoy me is how people don't realize how much natural talent Ronaldo had and how dedicated physically Messi is to his fitness, diet etc. People only seem to mention the opposite as if Ronaldo was just a fitness freak and Messi pure natural talent.

Yeah, i rate Messi higher than Ronaldo.
But Ronaldo 2007-2013 was a very skilled played and complete player.

Ironically his best years at Madrid in terms of showing skills were the first ones where Madrid didn't win much, i believe that's why people, wrongly, focus more on Ronaldo the goalscorer, cause he won more trophies at Madrid playing as a goalscorer than a dribbler electric player.
 
Yeah, i rate Messi higher than Ronaldo.
But Ronaldo 2007-2013 was a very skilled played and complete player.

Ironically his best years at Madrid in terms of showing skills were the first ones where Madrid didn't win much, i believe that's why people, wrongly, focus more on Ronaldo the goalscorer, cause he won more trophies at Madrid playing as a goalscorer than a dribbler electric player.

I get what you’re saying I personally disagree with “wrongly focus” because to me goals trophies and winning games matter the most but you’re right if someone is interested in pure dribbling/flair his first few years at Madrid were excellent to watch.

To personally it was the Madrid CL 3peat he just went into total beast mode. Incredible to watch.
 
Really? You mean the following "lacked that genius that other greats possessed"? Seriously? I think most of the "other greats" would love to have the "genius" required to score these:

Ronaldo is technically inferior to geniuses like Maradona, Messi, Pele, Zidane, Platini, Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Zico, Modric, Xavi etc. He is not even a top-100 player ever in terms of technical ability. Word genius is mostly reserved for those with magical technique and creativity in football which Ronaldo severely lacks.

He is also nowhere near the top in terms of dribbling skills. The only area where he can arguably be considered a top-5 player ever is goal-scoring.
 
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The natural gift this man had was incredible. Just magical. Two things that really annoy me is how people don't realize how much natural talent Ronaldo had and how dedicated physically Messi is to his fitness, diet etc. People only seem to mention the opposite as if Ronaldo was just a fitness freak and Messi pure natural talent.
If anyone thinks Ronaldo got to where he did only on fitness and working hard or that Messi got to what he did only on natural talent, then you really can't help them. That's just a binary in a silly way view point. But I think the more valid point is when comparing Ronaldo to other greatest of their era talents. Cruyff, Platini, Ronaldo, Zidane, etc... I don't think it's crazy to argue that compared to these guys, his ratio of what made him an all time great is tilted more towards the physical than technical. It's just a relative comparison because the man demands to be compared to that level of players, we are not going to compare him to Hazard or Bale or Robben.
 
If anyone thinks Ronaldo got to where he did only on fitness and working hard or that Messi got to what he did only on natural talent, then you really can't help them. That's just a binary in a silly way view point. But I think the more valid point is when comparing Ronaldo to other greatest of their era talents. Cruyff, Platini, Ronaldo, Zidane, etc... I don't think it's crazy to argue that compared to these guys, his ratio of what made him an all time great is tilted more towards the physical than technical. It's just a relative comparison because the man demands to be compared to that level of players, we are not going to compare him to Hazard or Bale or Robben.
The thing is, those past greats people mentioned, mostly only could maintained their peak until their mid late 20s. Ronaldo was very much a technial genius during his peak throughout his 20s too, but the fact he sustained that long career at the very top, scoring around 380 goals after he age 30+ as a poacher and enjoyed his most successful years during the time when other past greats starts their sharp decline, would makes people naturally comparing his 30s (most successful years as poacher) with other past greats during their 20s peak. It’s not fair comparison but it is the way it is.

Imagine if Ronaldo win all his Ballon D’or, CL and Euro during his peak in his 20s then go on decline normally like other past greats and retired earlier during his early 30s, I am surely most people would remembered him more fondly as technical genius than he is at the moment. But of course he won’t be getting his all time records too, so there’s always pros and cons.
 
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The thing is, those past greats people mentioned, mostly only could maintained their peak until their mid late 20s. Ronaldo was very much a technial genius during his peak throughout his 20s too, but the fact he sustained that long career at the very top, scoring around 380 goals after he age 30+ as a poacher and enjoyed his most successful years during the time when other past greats starts their sharp decline, would makes people naturally comparing his 30s (most successful years as poacher) with other past greats during their 20s peak. It’s not fair comparison but it is the way it is.

Imagine if Ronaldo win all his Ballon D’or, CL and Euro during his peak in his 20s then go on decline normally like other past greats and retired earlier during his early 30s, I am surely most people would remembered him more fondly as technical genius than he is at the moment.
I don't know what most people think, but I think Ronaldo at his technical best had less "flair" than the aforementioned greats. He was better than the likes of Figo, Robben, Bale or Giggs but I wouldn't put him ahead of Cruyff or Zidane. I am talking here purely technique, when you add his physicality, consistency, adaptability, mental traits, etc... he comfortably beats them which is why he is rightly viewed as one of the greatest ever alongside them if not above them.
 
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I don't know what most people think, but I think Ronaldo at his technical best had less "flair" than the aforementioned greats. He was better than the likes of Figo, Robben, Bale or Giggs but I wouldn't put him ahead of Cruyff or Zidane. I am talking here purely technique, when you add his physicality, consistency, adaptability, mental traits, etc... he comfortably beats them which is why he is rightly viewed as one of the greatest ever alongside them if not above them.
That’s a fair assessment actually. IMO he may not have the same ball control under tight space as those past greats, but his other technique and skill tricks are pretty much up there with the best I’ve seen.
 
I don't know what most people think, but I think Ronaldo at his technical best had less "flair" than the aforementioned greats. He was better than the likes of Figo, Robben, Bale or Giggs but I wouldn't put him ahead of Cruyff or Zidane. I am talking here purely technique, when you add his physicality, consistency, adaptability, mental traits, etc... he comfortably beats them which is why he is rightly viewed as one of the greatest ever alongside them if not above them.

I haven't watched Cruyff so I can't say anything about him, but I have watched Zidane and I can't find anything in his game that Ronaldo could not do. What do you think that Zidane could do, and Ronaldo could not do? Take for example the Ronaldo of 2007-08, since we are interested in Man Utd.
 
Yeah, i rate Messi higher than Ronaldo.
But Ronaldo 2007-2013 was a very skilled played and complete player.

Ironically his best years at Madrid in terms of showing skills were the first ones where Madrid didn't win much, i believe that's why people, wrongly, focus more on Ronaldo the goalscorer, cause he won more trophies at Madrid playing as a goalscorer than a dribbler electric player.

To me, the 2007-2010 version of Cristiano is his best version, skills, dribbling and goals galore. That version of Cristiano is the version I like and rate very highly. Many people think that his prime is his 3 peat years, but I felt that his United-RM transition years were his actual prime
 
I haven't watched Cruyff so I can't say anything about him, but I have watched Zidane and I can't find anything in his game that Ronaldo could not do. What do you think that Zidane could do, and Ronaldo could not do? Take for example the Ronaldo of 2007-08, since we are interested in Man Utd.
Playmaking? Defending? Top class passing? I mean they’re very different players even if it’s completely normal to regard Ronaldo higher. Have you really watched Zidane?
 
Playmaking? Defending? Top class passing? I mean they’re very different players even if it’s completely normal to regard Ronaldo higher. Have you really watched Zidane?

Also Zidane was the master of dribbling whilst walking or almost standing still. His ball retention without going past players with at full pelt is legendary.
 
Yeah that’s a weird one. Zidane could control the game, better at dribbling in tight spaces, ball control, passing, game management and awareness. If Ronaldo could all those things, he would have played number 10 on various occasions. Zidane was the ultimate classic number 10. Ronaldo is still a superior player but they’ve a different skill set.
 
The Saudi players debate seems odd. In the top 25 goal scorers in the league they only have 3 local players. It’s a league that is propped up by foreign talent. During the 2002 World Cup their goalkeeper was voted the greatest Asian goalkeeper in history and it seemed he had never saved a ball in his life
 
Also Zidane was the master of dribbling whilst walking or almost standing still. His ball retention without going past players with at full pelt is legendary.
Well some of my early favourite YouTube videos included Zidane vs Ronaldinho skillshow.

While I think Zidane is a footballl genius in terms of ball retention with his sublime ball control/skills/technique, Ronaldo is very fine on his own in terms of using his skills/techniques/tricks/quick feet for ball progression/progressive ball carries. One does look “smoother” when executing his move though, while the other does look more “electrifying”.
 
To me, the 2007-2010 version of Cristiano is his best version, skills, dribbling and goals galore. That version of Cristiano is the version I like and rate very highly. Many people think that his prime is his 3 peat years, but I felt that his United-RM transition years were his actual prime

Yeah, most people unfortunately are driven by trophies, so they believe that peak Ronaldo was post 2014 because he won way more trophies with Real.

I remember that before 2014 msny people used to mock Real for spending a lot of money in transfers, and only having 1 league title to show for. And Barca was the one getting praised for their smart transfers....funny how the tables turned completely the opposite just a couple of years later.
 
Yeah that’s a weird one. Zidane could control the game, better at dribbling in tight spaces, ball control, passing, game management and awareness. If Ronaldo could all those things, he would have played number 10 on various occasions. Zidane was the ultimate classic number 10. Ronaldo is still a superior player but they’ve a different skill set.

If you include consistency + longevity it's pretty much obvious that Ronaldo is better than the likes of Zidane, Ronaldinho, and R9. They are more naturally talented, but Ronaldo spank them when it comes to consistency and longevity, it's not even close.
 
If you include consistency + longevity it's pretty much obvious that Ronaldo is better than the likes of Zidane, Ronaldinho, and R9. They are more naturally talented, but Ronaldo spank them when it comes to consistency and longevity, it's not even close.

The discussion here isnt whether Ronaldo is better than Zidane. He clearly is. Someone asked the question "what could Zidane do that Ronaldo couldnt?" thats what its about.
 
Well some of my early favourite YouTube videos included Zidane vs Ronaldinho skillshow.

While I think Zidane is a footballl genius in terms of ball retention with his sublime ball control/skills/technique, Ronaldo is very fine on his own in terms of using his skills/techniques/tricks/quick feet for ball progression/progressive ball carries. One does look “smoother” when executing his move though, while the other does look more “electrifying”.

For sure, again it just a discussion about the difference in attributes.
 
Yeah, i rate Messi higher than Ronaldo.
But Ronaldo 2007-2013 was a very skilled played and complete player.

Ironically his best years at Madrid in terms of showing skills were the first ones where Madrid didn't win much, i believe that's why people, wrongly, focus more on Ronaldo the goalscorer, cause he won more trophies at Madrid playing as a goalscorer than a dribbler electric player.
It's funny that. Goalscoring being more important to winning trophies than dribbling, I mean.
Even though you can probably fill up a 20 min highlight reel of Ronaldo dribbling through his 20 year senior career, he was never at any points among the best dribblers in the world. He could run lightning fast with the ball in his feet though.
 
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Really? You mean the following "lacked that genius that other greats possessed"? Seriously? I think most of the "other greats" would love to have the "genius" required to score these:




Or perhaps these:


There is no doubting him as a goalscorer but I've seen many of the skills in the second video live and they never really impressed me.

If you want to watch ball skills that are organic, better watch Ronaldinho, R9 or Neymar.
 
The thing is, those past greats people mentioned, mostly only could maintained their peak until their mid late 20s. Ronaldo was very much a technial genius during his peak throughout his 20s too, but the fact he sustained that long career at the very top, scoring around 380 goals after he age 30+ as a poacher and enjoyed his most successful years during the time when other past greats starts their sharp decline, would makes people naturally comparing his 30s (most successful years as poacher) with other past greats during their 20s peak. It’s not fair comparison but it is the way it is.

Imagine if Ronaldo win all his Ballon D’or, CL and Euro during his peak in his 20s then go on decline normally like other past greats and retired earlier during his early 30s, I am surely most people would remembered him more fondly as technical genius than he is at the moment. But of course he won’t be getting his all time records too, so there’s always pros and cons.
Revisionism. He was a great athlete who had good technique, phenomenal goalscoring ability and amazing mentality.

His goals aren't technical either. I have hardly ever seen him lobe the keeper, curl the ball into the top or bottom corner or simply pass the ball into the goal. Majority of his good goals are simply powerful shots on goal.
 
The most frustrating stuff when I argue with Ronaldo fans is the revisionism about his dribbling and his ball skills.

I followed him closely through his career including his peak years (when I was a fan due to his association with United) and his dribbling was only very good in 06/07 season. After that season it got progressively worse although it was decent in his prime. He was never a great dribbler and whatever dribbles he did were mostly about outrunning opponents into an open field. I remember whenever he would play on the wing purely as an orthodox winger, he would struggle against the fullback because of his inability to out run him.

As for his ball skills, they hardly impressed me because they were often pointless and never looked organic as compared to when someone like R9, Ronaldinho or Neymar did them.

In anycase when I say he lacked the genius in his allround play it is the combination of these shortcomings plus relative lack of vision, passing ability and creativity when compared to some other greats of the game.

What he had in his locker was incredible athleticism built for counterattacking and an eye for goal. You can say he is a genius goalscorer.

What makes him one of the greatest ever (greater than many who were actually better allround footballers than him) is a combination of phenomenal goal stats, success and longevity.

I'm not simply picking these attributes from his poaching years but rather from his later years at United and early years at Madrid.
 
It's funny that. Goalscoring being more important to winning trophies than dribbling, I mean.
Even though you can probably fill up a 20 min highlight reel of Ronaldo dribbling through his 20 year senior career, he was never at any points among the best dribblers in the world. He could run lightning fast with the ball in his feet though.
Neither goalscoring, nor dribbling are more important to winning trophies. It's all about context. There are amazing dribblers and goalscorers whose teams did better without them than with them. The most important, rarest and valuable currency in the game has always been the ability to destabilize a defensive organization. This particular currency has more often than not come in the shape of great dribblers, passers and playmakers from the likes of Pelé, Cruyff, Maradona and others. That is why we usually refer to the greatest goalscorers in a category of their own a bit like Müller, Van Basten or Van Nilstelrooy.

Having said that, plenty of goalscorers also possessed that ability to render a defensive organistion useless through dribbling, pace and technique like Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and nowadays Mbappé.
 
Passing, playmaking and first touch requires great technique. Zidane was miles better at the first two and better at the third.

I don't think so. Ronaldo's technique was better, for a demo watch the two videos I posted earlier. He could do everything Zidane could do, but better.

And he could also score better than anyone else, which is the hardest thing in football. So, naturally, all the managers asked him to focus on scoring, not to set up inferior players that have higher possibility of missing.
 
I don't think so. Ronaldo's technique was better, for a demo watch the two videos I posted earlier. He could do everything Zidane could do, but better.

And he could also score better than anyone else, which is the hardest thing in football. So, naturally, all the managers asked him to focus on scoring, not to set up inferior players that have higher possibility of missing.
He couldn’t. Anyone can play a great pass or score a great goal (see Fred). Ronaldo had nowhere near Zidane’s quality in those aspects I mentioned. It’s pure delusion to think that he did but didn’t show it because he was so good at scoring.
 
I don't think so. Ronaldo's technique was better, for a demo watch the two videos I posted earlier. He could do everything Zidane could do, but better.
Nope. Just plain wrong. You can make any professional footballer look fantastic in a 5 min highlight reel. Zidane had better technique than CR, by quite a big margin in my book.
And no, he could definitely not do everything ZZ could do, and certainly not better. Ronaldo had a much better club career though and will go down in history as the greater player of the two because of his goalrecords, trophies and longivity.
 
Neither goalscoring, nor dribbling are more important to winning trophies. It's all about context. There are amazing dribblers and goalscorers whose teams did better without them than with them. The most important, rarest and valuable currency in the game has always been the ability to destabilize a defensive organization. This particular currency has more often than not come in the shape of great dribblers, passers and playmakers from the likes of Pelé, Cruyff, Maradona and others. That is why we usually refer to the greatest goalscorers in a category of their own a bit like Müller, Van Basten or Van Nilstelrooy.

Having said that, plenty of goalscorers also possessed that ability to render a defensive organistion useless through dribbling, pace and technique like Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and nowadays Mbappé.

I disagree. Scoring is by far the most important ability in football. That's why those players who score the most, get the highest wages. Highlights are about goals. The most watched football videos on YouTube are about goals. What we remember the most from winning the CL against Bayern in 1999 is the two goals. What we celebrate the most is goals.

Yes it's desirable for a footballer to have other abilities as well, but there is an hierarchy of importance. And by far the most important ability in football is to score goals. Dribbling and everything else is good only if it increases the possibilities for scoring, without the threat of scoring we can find greater dribbling and amazing skills in a circus.
 
If a kid has great ability to score and great ability to defend, what do you think their managers will ask them to focus on? If you ever played football you know that the answer is obvious: scoring is the King.
 
I disagree. Scoring is by far the most important ability in football. That's why those players who score the most, get the highest wages. Highlights are about goals. The most watched football videos on YouTube are about goals. What we remember the most from winning the CL against Bayern in 1999 is the two goals. What we celebrate the most is goals.

Yes it's desirable for a footballer to have other abilities as well, but there is an hierarchy of importance. And by far the most important ability in football is to score goals. Dribbling and everything else is good only if it increases the possibilities for scoring, without the threat of scoring we can find greater dribbling and amazing skills in a circus.
The best players imbalance the opponent. Ronaldinho wasn't exactly prolific but his genius on the ball meant Barcelona were favourites against any team. But the goalscorers are always in the headlines and Ronaldo was brilliant at that but much Inferior to Ronaldinho at everything else. You can put Zidane, R9, Maradona, Cruyff, arguably Iniesta, Eusebio in Ronaldinho's place and it would be the same.

What makes Cristiano greater than these others is his longevity and superior success at club level.
 
I disagree. Scoring is by far the most important ability in football. That's why those players who score the most, get the highest wages. Highlights are about goals. The most watched football videos on YouTube are about goals. What we remember the most from winning the CL against Bayern in 1999 is the two goals. What we celebrate the most is goals.

Yes it's desirable for a footballer to have other abilities as well, but there is an hierarchy of importance. And by far the most important ability in football is to score goals. Dribbling and everything else is good only if it increases the possibilities for scoring, without the threat of scoring we can find greater dribbling and amazing skills in a circus.

Is that why Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, Best, Platini, Zidane, Beckenbauer, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Zico, Rivaldo, Modric, Xavi etc. are seen among the top players ever? Because of goal-scoring? Why is Gerd Muller not as popular as Beckenbauer or Cruyff when he is "the real top goal-scorer"? I honestly think you have no idea why most people watch football, the value of technique and what attracts football fans most.

Also, it's no surprise that the top 3-players ever are technical geniuses with crazy playmaking, dribbling skills rather than pure goal-scorers (Messi, Pele, Maradona).
 
I disagree. Scoring is by far the most important ability in football. That's why those players who score the most, get the highest wages. Highlights are about goals. The most watched football videos on YouTube are about goals. What we remember the most from winning the CL against Bayern in 1999 is the two goals. What we celebrate the most is goals.

Yes it's desirable for a footballer to have other abilities as well, but there is an hierarchy of importance. And by far the most important ability in football is to score goals. Dribbling and everything else is good only if it increases the possibilities for scoring, without the threat of scoring we can find greater dribbling and amazing skills in a circus.
That's just not true. If you make any list of the greatest footballers of all time, less than half of them would be goalscorers. What we remember or celebrate or whatever you want to call it has nothing to do with value. The valuable players are the ones that rendered defensive organization useless through dribbling, playmaking or yes, goalscoring. Goalscoring alone has never been the value in itself, it is the end goal but, hypothetically, someone who can dribble regularly past 5 players and put the ball on a plate to a someone who can tap it in is significantly more valuable and would cost more more money than the goalscorer. It's just that this is generally rare. This is why the most desirable quality in the game is the one that you find in common between, Pelé, Cruyff, Maradona, Best, Messi, Ronaldo, Cristiano, Mbappé, Zidane and few others, it really ain't the scoring goals, it is that they could individually change the course of a game and scoring goals is just one of them ways they could.
 
Really? You mean the following "lacked that genius that other greats possessed"? Seriously? I think most of the "other greats" would love to have the "genius" required to score these:




Or perhaps these:


Saying that he lacks the genius of other greats is a fact. It's not the same as saying that he has no skill or ability, which would obviously be false.
 
Really? You mean the following "lacked that genius that other greats possessed"? Seriously? I think most of the "other greats" would love to have the "genius" required to score these:




Or perhaps these:


Every skilfull player has these sort of showboating compilations on youtube. If you've never seen Quaresma play and saw his youtube compilation videos you'd think he was one of the best players in the world.
 
Nope. Just plain wrong. You can make any professional footballer look fantastic in a 5 min highlight reel. Zidane had better technique than CR, by quite a big margin in my book.
And no, he could definitely not do everything ZZ could do, and certainly not better. Ronaldo had a much better club career though and will go down in history as the greater player of the two because of his goalrecords, trophies and longivity.

Someone like Nani was just about as good a dribbler as Cristiano in his prime. But Nani was also very good at that just not as good as the most elite.
 
Revisionism. He was a great athlete who had good technique, phenomenal goalscoring ability and amazing mentality.

His goals aren't technical either. I have hardly ever seen him lobe the keeper, curl the ball into the top or bottom corner or simply pass the ball into the goal. Majority of his good goals are simply powerful shots on goal.
Well there so many facet of techniques in football yet you always tend to define your own very limited criteria to be regarded as technical (lob, curl, simple pass into goal). Especially with Ronaldo there has been many different phases of his career which means agreeing on the whole same picture is even more difficult. It has always come to this point with these discussion so at the end of the day you are free to stand by your own opinion on that call it revisionism you want, as I am going to stand by mine can call yours revisionism too. But bottom line we all know Ronaldo was very much technical “genius“ or whatever you want to call that, when he was contender/winner for Ballon D’or and PL player of the year with us during his first stint here. George Best, one of the most talented technical player/elite dribbler ever, has once said he felt its compliment when people compare young Ronaldo with him, something alone that line. It’s first time ever he said such thing on a player even though there has been so many talented player being compared to him over the years, so you see I simply trust his opinion more on that as football genius.
 
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Nope. Just plain wrong. You can make any professional footballer look fantastic in a 5 min highlight reel. Zidane had better technique than CR, by quite a big margin in my book.
And no, he could definitely not do everything ZZ could do, and certainly not better. Ronaldo had a much better club career though and will go down in history as the greater player of the two because of his goalrecords, trophies and longivity.
Actually Ronaldo does look fantastic not just in 5 mins, but in 5 hours of highlight reel. You can search everything on YouTube season by season, there were 10-15 mins of his skills highlights in each of his 15+ seasons there.

But I not going to argue Ronaldo vs Zidane on who is better technique player during their peak years. I have very high regards on Zidane and wouldn’t necessarily disagree with people rating Zidane higher in technical aspect. I thought they are pretty much as effective, one stronger in ball retention, while the other stronger in ball progression.
 
Ronaldo is literally on record for saying he would never play in Saudi Arabia because he wants to retire with dignity. And now you have certain set of fanboys trying to make it something its not. Its a place just like the mls and Chinese leagues you go to in semi retirement to milk as much money from your image as you can. Of course ronnie being ronnie now bigs it up so he can pretend the goals he scores there are actually meaningfull to his stature.

It's astonishing, isn't it