Cristiano Ronaldo - Countdown to 1k | 954 currently

[Kwabs]

If we are looking at the "big 5" leagues Messi has 1 more goal than Ronaldo, however Ronaldo played in better leagues than Messi. Messi also had an advantage because he played in a one single league throughout his whole career and then went to a relatively weak French league. Ronaldo frequently changed the clubs and the leagues and it's very hard to do that compared to staying in one league throughout your whole life. Messi's domestic league campaign is definitely better than Ronaldo's but Ronaldo's ability to change environments in a relative ease is pretty underrated in my opinion.

It's slightly better at 0.2 goals per game, but Ronaldo was far better in the knockout stages than Messi. 0.80 vs 0.64 per game ratio in the knockout stages for Ronaldo. Even if we combine the goal contributions Ronaldo was still better than Messi. Ronaldo has won more UCL titles where he was a protagonist than Messi. 5 vs 3 for Ronaldo (Messi was a passenger in 05/06). Ronaldo has more golden boots than Messi 7 vs 6. Ronaldo even has more assists than Messi in both knockout stages and overall in the UCL and Messi is supposed to be a far better playmaker. Ronaldo has twice amount of free kick goals as Messi 12 vs 6 (or 7). Ronaldo actually has the most free kick goals in the UCL history despite being ridiculed for years.

Messi was a better dribbler than Ronaldo, can anyone dispute that?! Just look at the amount of goals of Messi vs Ronaldo from the quarter finals to finals:

Quarter-finals:
25 goals in 22 games for Ronaldo
12 goals in 23 games for Messi

Semi-finals:
13 goals in 21 games for Ronaldo
6 goals in 15 games for Messi

Benzema and Lewa have more semi final goals than Messi, and Di Stefano and Puskas if you count European Cup (pre 1992)

Finals:
4 goals in 6 games for Ronaldo
2 goals in 4 games for Messi

Messi has more goals than Ronaldo in the round of 16, but in the deeper stages of the UCL, Ronaldo simply oblitirates Messi and this is what separates them in my opinion. Ronaldo was more "clutch" and more of a big game player than Messi in the UCL. He has more golden boots than Messi and was a main protagonist than Messi in the UCL winning campaigns. Even in categories where Messi is supposedly "way better" like assists and free kicks (debatable), Ronaldo has better stats than Messi. Even though Messi is a way better dribbler than Ronaldo, Ronaldo's dribbling prime was pretty underrated. Ronaldo averaged around 4 dribbles per 90 in his Man Utd days, with his peak being 6 dribbles per 90 in 04/05.

Nah, Ronaldo just focused on tap ins more. As an all round player, Messi was still better, IMO. I'd take his best goals and performances in the CL over Ronaldo's best goals and performances any day of the week.

In fact, the only Ronaldo goal I can clearly remember for Madrid (when he was in arch tap in mode - United Ronaldo was more varied) is the overhead kick. None of the others stick in my mind. With Messi, I can remember loads off the top of my head. Against Real Madrid, against Bayern (poor Boateng), against United etc. I can remember great performances where he didnt even score (e.g. the game against Man City). What great performance did Ronaldo have where he didn't score a goal? I'm struggling to remember any.

Also, how 'clutch' can you be (even as just a goalscorer) when you face Messi in a CL final and lose without scoring and also face Messi in a CL semi final and lose without scoring?

It must be tough being Ronaldo - everything he dreams of (the most European Golden boots, the most Ballon D'Ors, the World Cup etc.), Messi gets in reality. The curse of being second best. Harsh.

 

[Gehrman]

Nah, Ronaldo just focused on tap ins more. As an all round player, Messi was still better, IMO. I'd take his best goals and performances in the CL over Ronaldo's best goals and performances any day of the week.

In fact, the only Ronaldo goal I can clearly remember for Madrid (when he was in arch tap in mode - United Ronaldo was more varied) is the overhead kick. None of the others stick in my mind. With Messi, I can remember loads off the top of my head. Against Real Madrid, against Bayern (poor Boateng), against United etc. I can remember great performances where he didnt even score (e.g. the game against Man City). What great performance did Ronaldo have where he didn't score a goal? I'm struggling to remember any.

Also, how 'clutch' can you be (even as just a goalscorer) when you face Messi in a CL final and lose without scoring and also face Messi in a CL semi final and lose without scoring?

It must be tough being Ronaldo - everything he dreams of (the most European Golden boots, the most Ballon D'Ors, the World Cup etc.), Messi gets in reality. The curse of being second best. Harsh.

Im fine with Ronaldo being Mr. Cl because he's the topscorer(marginally though) and has won it more times, but i agree Messi has more performances where he tortures the opposition before he scores(in Rooneys words).

However we've seen Messi and Ronaldo share the same pitch for Man utd/Barca and Real Madrid(all strong teams) and even looking past stats(36 games Messi 22 goals, 11 assists. Ronaldo 21 goals, 1 assist, 36 games, 1 assist ratio). its clear if you watched the games who's the better player.

Anyway this is OT. Ronaldo started it though again.

 

[Wand of a right foot]

A "goalpoacher" who has more assists than "playmaker" Messi in the UCL .

- Barcelona's UCL record with Xavi and Iniesta as playmakers 4 UCL titles in 9 years.
- Barcelona's UCL record with Messi as a playmaker: 0 UCL titles, 0 UCL finals and only 1 semifinal

1. There is a gulf in quality between Messi's assists and Cristiano's assists. Messi has more per game.

2. There is a gulf in quality between the quality of their goals too. And again, Messi has more per game.

3. Playmaking does not just means assists it includes facilitating the assist, bringing others into play, key passes, chance crearion and assists. Xavi and Iniesta had less assists than Messi.

4. During the 3 ucl titles Real won between 2015 and 2018, Criatiano's general play had deteriorated significantly and the vast majority of his goals were poachers goals.

5. Watching Cristiano for all of his career, the only seasons his general play truly impressed me were 2006/7 and to a lesser extent 2009/10 and 2011/12.

6. Real Madrid won 2 ucl titles after Cristiano left showing the quality they had with the likes of Modric, Kroos, Benzema amongst others. Cristiano did not play with slouches. How many have Barcelona won?

 

[Herman Toothrot]

This creep is going present Donald Trump this made up peace prize, isn't he?

 

[Gehrman]

1. There is a gulf in quality between Messi's assists and Cristiano's assists. Messi has more per game.

2. There is a gulf in quality between the quality of their goals too. And again, Messi has more per game.

3. Playmaking does not just means assists it includes facilitating the assist, bringing others into play, key passes, chance crearion and assists. Xavi and Iniesta had less assists than Messi.

4. During the 3 ucl titles Real won between 2015 and 2018, Criatiano's general play had deteriorated significantly and the vast majority of his goals were poachers goals.

5. Watching Cristiano for all of his career, the only seasons his general play truly impressed me were 2006/7 and to a lesser extent 2009/10 and 2011/12.

6. Real Madrid won 2 ucl titles after Cristiano left showing the quality they had with the likes of Modric, Kroos, Benzema amongst others. Cristiano did not play with slouches. How many have Barcelona won?

The closer you play to play to goal the easier it is to ge an assist depending on the formation of course. Being a winger in a 4-4-2 in a highscoring team will bag you lots of assists, so will being a inside forward in a highscoring team in a 4-3-3. There´s a reason why deep playmakers rarely rack up tons of assists. Because they are not in a position to deliver the final pass, hence why Bicuits as a deep lying playmaker never churned out assists at a high rate and the same with Scholes. Pirlo though had mastered art of penetrating long balls from the DM position.

 

[RedMessiah]

Someone that makes 3/4 of their posts either about Messi or about Ronaldo being inferior to Messi probably isn't the most objective. And having a preference absolutely impacts one's ability to be objective. How couldn't it?

I posted like 10 times this year (at most). You definitely can be objective while having a preference, it's a pretty easy concept to grasp. You still haven't refuted anything I or the poster I quoted said (because of course, you can't), and resorted to calling someone obsessed for posting less 10 times in a year. Again, very good argument, you belong in Twitter my man.

 

[RedMessiah]

A "goalpoacher" who has more assists than "playmaker" Messi in the UCL .

- Barcelona's UCL record with Xavi and Iniesta as playmakers 4 UCL titles in 9 years.
- Barcelona's UCL record with Messi as a playmaker: 0 UCL titles, 0 UCL finals and only 1 semifinal

The level of intelligence of this post is that of a 10 year old, as most of your posts. I guess the fact that there's someone be better than your favorite player can do that to you

 

[KingEric04]

Nah, Ronaldo just focused on tap ins more. As an all round player, Messi was still better, IMO. I'd take his best goals and performances in the CL over Ronaldo's best goals and performances any day of the week.

In fact, the only Ronaldo goal I can clearly remember for Madrid (when he was in arch tap in mode - United Ronaldo was more varied) is the overhead kick. None of the others stick in my mind. With Messi, I can remember loads off the top of my head. Against Real Madrid, against Bayern (poor Boateng), against United etc. I can remember great performances where he didnt even score (e.g. the game against Man City). What great performance did Ronaldo have where he didn't score a goal? I'm struggling to remember any.

Also, how 'clutch' can you be (even as just a goalscorer) when you face Messi in a CL final and lose without scoring and also face Messi in a CL semi final and lose without scoring?

It must be tough being Ronaldo - everything he dreams of (the most European Golden boots, the most Ballon D'Ors, the World Cup etc.), Messi gets in reality. The curse of being second best. Harsh.

Tap ins aren't easy, are you aware of that? Otherwise, every forward would be a prolific goal scorer. Positional awareness and finishing isn't something to denigrate or mock. Anyway, if you could bring up 1 example of Ronaldo's "clutchness" it would be 16/17 UCL final. 5 goals against Bayern, 3 goals against Atletico and 2 against Juve.

There's a case for Neymar being better than Messi in 14/15. He certainly was better than Messi in the knockout stages. Ronaldo was more dominant than Messi in their title winning campaigns. And Ronaldo didn't just score the "tap-ins". Whether that was his overhead kick against Juve or his "chop" against Roma or his free kick winning goal against Wolfsburg etc.

1. There is a gulf in quality between Messi's assists and Cristiano's assists. Messi has more per game.

2. There is a gulf in quality between the quality of their goals too. And again, Messi has more per game.

3. Playmaking does not just means assists it includes facilitating the assist, bringing others into play, key passes, chance crearion and assists. Xavi and Iniesta had less assists than Messi.

4. During the 3 ucl titles Real won between 2015 and 2018, Criatiano's general play had deteriorated significantly and the vast majority of his goals were poachers goals.

5. Watching Cristiano for all of his career, the only seasons his general play truly impressed me were 2006/7 and to a lesser extent 2009/10 and 2011/12.

6. Real Madrid won 2 ucl titles after Cristiano left showing the quality they had with the likes of Modric, Kroos, Benzema amongst others. Cristiano did not play with slouches. How many have Barcelona won?

A lot of nonsense in this post. 07/08 or 13/14 Ronaldo never impressed you? Ronaldo doesn't have the quality or the range of goals as Messi? Really? Just more headers, free kick goals and weak foot goals. Messi never scored a 40 yard screamer like Ronaldo did against Porto, did he?

Xavi and Iniesta are clearly better playmakers than Messi, Messi is propped up because it's an unusual for a forward to be a playmaker. He doesn't have the passing quality of Xavi, the dictating quality of Pirlo nor do he have the long range passing quality of Kroos. He doesn't have the vision of Xavi or creativity of Ozil, KDB or Modrić.

And when did i say he played with bums? It's just that Ronaldo's strengths are usually downplayed whereas Messi's strengths are usually exaggarated. Like, why is no one talking about Ronaldo's heading abilities despite being probably the best one in history?

 

[Wand of a right foot]

Tap ins aren't easy, are you aware of that? Otherwise, every forward would be a prolific goal scorer. Positional awareness and finishing isn't something to denigrate or mock. Anyway, if you could bring up 1 example of Ronaldo's "clutchness" it would be 16/17 UCL final. 5 goals against Bayern, 3 goals against Atletico and 2 against Juve.

There's a case for Neymar being better than Messi in 14/15. He certainly was better than Messi in the knockout stages. Ronaldo was more dominant than Messi in their title winning campaigns. And Ronaldo didn't just score the "tap-ins". Whether that was his overhead kick against Juve or his "chop" against Roma or his free kick winning goal against Wolfsburg etc.

A lot of nonsense in this post. 07/08 or 13/14 Ronaldo never impressed you? Ronaldo doesn't have the quality or the range of goals as Messi? Really? Just more headers, free kick goals and weak foot goals. Messi never scored a 40 yard screamer like Ronaldo did against Porto, did he?

Xavi and Iniesta are clearly better playmakers than Messi, Messi is propped up because it's an unusual for a forward to be a playmaker. He doesn't have the passing quality of Xavi, the dictating quality of Pirlo nor do he have the long range passing quality of Kroos. He doesn't have the vision of Xavi or creativity of Ozil, KDB or Modrić.

And when did i say he played with bums? It's just that Ronaldo's strengths are usually downplayed whereas Messi's strengths are usually exaggarated. Like, why is no one talking about Ronaldo's heading abilities despite being probably the best one in history?

1. Neymar being better than Messi in the knockouts is a lie flounted by Cristiano fans on twitter or X. Messi was motm in both legs vs City (R16) , Was motm vs Bayern (home) and was generally excellent in all the other knock outs. The only match in which Neymar perhaps was better was vs PSG away (QF).

2. He did not impress me in 07/08 interms of allround play. Infact he was much better in his breakthrough season of 06/07. I watched pretty much every game of those 2 seasons and 07/08 was the birth of the mordern version of Cristiano; a goalscorer first and foremost.

Infact if you want to see the chasm in general play, the semifinal of the champions league of that season was evidence enough. If you were watching it without knowing who is Messi or Ronaldo, you'd swear that Messi was the ballond'or winner that year.

As a goalscorer, Ronaldo is an alltime great and that is pretty much it and Messi atleast matches him in this regard.

3. Messi's final pass is as good as any I have ever seen and certainly better than any of those you mentioned. He is a more advanced playmaker not a midfield playmaker.

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

Annoying that the thread title says countdown, but I can't find current tally anywhere despite wading through posts I didn't want to read. Clickbaity.

 

[KingEric04]

1. Neymar being better than Messi in the knockouts is a lie flounted by Cristiano fans on twitter or X. Messi was motm in both legs vs City (R16) , Was motm vs Bayern (home) and was generally excellent in all the other knock outs. The only match in which Neymar perhaps was better was vs PSG away (QF).

2. He did not impress me in 07/08 interms of allround play. Infact he was much better in his breakthrough season of 06/07. I watched pretty much every game of those 2 seasons and 07/08 was the birth of the mordern version of Cristiano; a goalscorer first and foremost.

Infact if you want to see the chasm in general play, the semifinal of the champions league of that season was evidence enough. If you were watching it without knowing who is Messi or Ronaldo, you'd swear that Messi was the ballond'or winner that year.

As a goalscorer, Ronaldo is an alltime great and that is pretty much it and Messi matches him.

3. Messi's final pass is as good as any I have ever seen and certainly better than any of those you mentioned. He is a more advanced playmaker not a midfield playmaker.

1. How is it a "lie" when Neymar outscored Messi by a significant margin? 7 to 2? Even Suarez scored more goals than Messi (5 goals). We are talking about Prime Messi here.

2. That was only one game though. Messi had like 14 successful dribbles at Old Trafford. Ronaldo had 14 dribbles against Benfica just a season prior and god knows how many against Roma. That doesn't mean he was a better player than Kaka in the UCL that season, does it?

Ronaldo was literally toying with the EPL defenders in 07/08. His free kicks drastically improved, so did his goalscoring and finishing. In 06/07 he was more skillfull but 07/08 was a more complete player.

3 . No it isn't.

 

[Pickle85]

Why is it that the Ronaldo thread seems perpetually invaded by vocal Messi acolytes, while the Messi thread seems comparable fairly free of Ronaldo acolytes?

 

[Posh Red]

Why is it that the Ronaldo thread seems perpetually invaded by vocal Messi acolytes, while the Messi thread seems comparable fairly free of Ronaldo acolytes?

I always assumed the posters posting the numbers when he scored in this thread were parody or satire designed to wind people up, to be fair.

 

[Pickle85]

I always assumed the posters posting the numbers when he scored in this thread were parody or satire designed to wind people up, to be fair.

Reasonable assumption TBF. Though at this late stage in human tech development I assume pretty much everything online is a bot tbh.

 

[aldair45]

1. How is it a "lie" when Neymar outscored Messi by a significant margin? 7 to 2? Even Suarez scored more goals than Messi (5 goals). We are talking about Prime Messi here.

Since more goals=better player/performance in your world, can you confirm whether you actually think Ronaldo falls outside the Premier League’s top-10 players and that he was just on par with Vardy, Yorke, or Aubameyang, as the numbers below show?

Premier League Golden Boot
Henry (4)
Salah (4)
Shearer (3)
Kane (3)
Haaland (2)
Hasselbaink (2)
Van Persie (2)
Owen (2)
Drogba (2)

Suarez, Mane, Berbatov, Aubameyang, Son, Ronaldo, Aguero, Tevez, Anelka, Yorke, Dublin, Sutton, Sheringham (1)

Using your goals-based logic, it seems Ronaldo wasn’t even half the player Salah or Henry were in the Premier League. I’m sure you’d agree with that assessment as goals are the only thing that matter.

 

[Fobal]

Why is it that the Ronaldo thread seems perpetually invaded by vocal Messi acolytes, while the Messi thread seems comparable fairly free of Ronaldo acolytes?

Farily free? not as much...yet in the other thread Cris name it's not bring as usual as Messi it's brought here.
The resident Cris defender, as much as I trully get along with him, had some over the top stuff thrown in the other thread too.
And Cris has an edge in creating controversy without any sort of help from fans. That creates more traffic too.

 

[Wand of a right foot]

1. How is it a "lie" when Neymar outscored Messi by a significant margin? 7 to 2? Even Suarez scored more goals than Messi (5 goals). We are talking about Prime Messi here.

2. That was only one game though. Messi had like 14 successful dribbles at Old Trafford. Ronaldo had 14 dribbles against Benfica just a season prior and god knows how many against Roma. That doesn't mean he was a better player than Kaka in the UCL that season, does it?

Ronaldo was literally toying with the EPL defenders in 07/08. His free kicks drastically improved, so did his goalscoring and finishing. In 06/07 he was more skillfull but 07/08 was a more complete player.

3 . No it isn't.

1. For you it is stats only ian't is? Messi was by far the best player vs City without scoring and by far the best player vs Bayern. He has never needed to score to influence a game.

2. Cristiano wasn't destroying any defences in 07/08. Infact in the first half of that season, the Rooney and Tevez partnership was taking all the headlines. Ronaldo really came to the fore around Feb/March. And in both legs vs Barcelona, Messi was better by a distance despite just coming back from a lengthy injury.

3. Yes he is. His through passes are the best I have seen. As an example just the assist vs Netherlands.

 

[Raoul]

1. For you it is stats only ian't is? Messi was by far the best player vs City without scoring and by far the best player vs Bayern. He has never needed to score to influence a game.

2. Cristiano wasn't destroying any defences in 07/08. Infact in the first half of that season, the Rooney and Tevez partnership was taking all the headlines. Ronaldo really came to the fore around Feb/March. And in both legs vs Barcelona, Messi was better by a distance despite just coming back from a lengthy injury.

3. Yes he is. His through passes are the best I have seen. As an example just the assist vs Netherlands.

Please take the Messi chat to another thread.

 

[Gehrman]

Why is it that the Ronaldo thread seems perpetually invaded by vocal Messi acolytes, while the Messi thread seems comparable fairly free of Ronaldo acolytes?

Mainly because Messi isn't obsessed with Ronaldo who can't keep bringing up Messi or taking digs. I think so anyway.

 

[steffyr2]

Why is it that the Ronaldo thread seems perpetually invaded by vocal Messi acolytes, while the Messi thread seems comparable fairly free of Ronaldo acolytes?

I don't read other club forums....do Messi fans go there to denigrate those players too? I've wondered.

 

[KingEric04]

Since more goals=better player/performance in your world, can you confirm whether you actually think Ronaldo falls outside the Premier League’s top-10 players and that he was just on par with Vardy, Yorke, or Aubameyang, as the numbers below show?

Premier League Golden Boot
Henry (4)
Salah (4)
Shearer (3)
Kane (3)
Haaland (2)
Hasselbaink (2)
Van Persie (2)
Owen (2)
Drogba (2)

Suarez, Mane, Berbatov, Aubameyang, Son, Ronaldo, Aguero, Tevez, Anelka, Yorke, Dublin, Sutton, Sheringham (1)

Using your goals-based logic, it seems Ronaldo wasn’t even half the player Salah or Henry were in the Premier League. I’m sure you’d agree with that assessment as goals are the only thing that matter.

You're a funny guy. I never said it was all about the goals but given that Messi was a prolific goalscorer at the time, he was outshined in that department by Neymar.

And about that EPL argument it's pretty easy to debunk. Wingers back then, especially before 2010s weren't really prolific goalscorers. Ronaldo scored 42 goals from the wing, which was unheard of before the era of inverted wingers and wide forwards.

The goal charts were always topped by the traditional no.9s. Giggs and Beckham never scored more than 17 goals in a single season (in all comps) and they were the best wingers in the EPL for about a decade.

To return to the original point, Ronaldo had more dominant UCL runs than Messi and more UCL runs as a major protagonist. In Madrid years, especially in the three peat era, it was Ronaldo and pretty much everyone else. BBC didn't really exist, it was pretty much Ronaldo on his own and Bale ocassionally.

Messi was pretty dominant in 2011 but in 14-15 it was pretty even between the MSN. In 2006 he was a passenger as well. If we are talking about the Champions league legacy, Ronaldo has a bigger legacy than Messi in my opinion.

 

[Red Stone]

Annoying that the thread title says countdown, but I can't find current tally anywhere despite wading through posts I didn't want to read. Clickbaity.

Title doesn't mention the creepy and obsessive bickering either. It's an absolute fraud.

 

[Fobal]

You're a funny guy. I never said it was all about the goals but given that Messi was a prolific goalscorer at the time, he was outshined in that department by Neymar.

And about that EPL argument it's pretty easy to debunk. Wingers back then, especially before 2010s weren't really prolific goalscorers. Ronaldo scored 42 goals from the wing, which was unheard of before the era of inverted wingers and wide forwards.

The goal charts were always topped by the traditional no.9s. Giggs and Beckham never scored more than 17 goals in a single season (in all comps) and they were the best wingers in the EPL for about a decade.

To return to the original point, Ronaldo had more dominant UCL runs than Messi and more UCL runs as a major protagonist. In Madrid years, especially in the three peat era, it was Ronaldo and pretty much everyone else. BBC didn't really exist, it was pretty much Ronaldo on his own and Bale ocassionally.

Messi was pretty dominant in 2011 but in 14-15 it was pretty even between the MSN. In 2006 he was a passenger as well. If we are talking about the Champions league legacy, Ronaldo has a bigger legacy than Messi in my opinion.

Why not go back to Cristiano, this thread will be derrailed once again. Just my two cents.

 

[Shalu@156]

Can we have the goal countdown number in the title please? Just so that we can know where he is at without having to go thru the same 4 people arguing circular logic over and over, mods?

 

[Joel Miller]

You're a funny guy. I never said it was all about the goals but given that Messi was a prolific goalscorer at the time, he was outshined in that department by Neymar.

And about that EPL argument it's pretty easy to debunk. Wingers back then, especially before 2010s weren't really prolific goalscorers. Ronaldo scored 42 goals from the wing, which was unheard of before the era of inverted wingers and wide forwards.

The goal charts were always topped by the traditional no.9s. Giggs and Beckham never scored more than 17 goals in a single season (in all comps) and they were the best wingers in the EPL for about a decade.

To return to the original point, Ronaldo had more dominant UCL runs than Messi and more UCL runs as a major protagonist. In Madrid years, especially in the three peat era, it was Ronaldo and pretty much everyone else. BBC didn't really exist, it was pretty much Ronaldo on his own and Bale ocassionally.

Messi was pretty dominant in 2011 but in 14-15 it was pretty even between the MSN. In 2006 he was a passenger as well. If we are talking about the Champions league legacy, Ronaldo has a bigger legacy than Messi in my opinion.

Oh come off it. Ronaldo was rotten in 2 of those 3 finals but it was all him? That’s just not true in any way, shape or form. I know a bit of time has passed, but not enough to be completely rewriting history. He never got going against Atletico or Liverpool, probably worth mentioning he was rotten in the first final against Atletico too so really he turned up in 1 out of 4 with Madrid, Ramos was Madrid’s saviour.

 

[Henandez14]

Why is it that the Ronaldo thread seems perpetually invaded by vocal Messi acolytes, while the Messi thread seems comparable fairly free of Ronaldo acolytes?

Messi doesn't go to Piers Morgan for starters. This being the Ronaldo thread, if Ronaldo brings up Messi himself then you can't fault people for following suit can you?

 

[Pickle85]

Messi doesn't go to Piers Morgan for starters. This being the Ronaldo thread, if Ronaldo brings up Messi himself then you can't fault people for following suit can you?

You'd be hard pushed to find a page in the entire thread on which Messi isn't mentioned, so it's not just the PM interview. It just strikes me as a weird imbalance.

 

[Henandez14]

You'd be hard pushed to find a page in the entire thread on which Messi isn't mentioned, so it's not just the PM interview. It just strikes me as a weird imbalance.

You're right. But it wouldn't also be the first time he has made new worthy comments about Messi. He's made Messi a part of his identity to some degree. The same can't easily be said about Messi

 

[Wand of a right foot]

To return to the original point, Ronaldo had more dominant UCL runs than Messi and more UCL runs as a major protagonist. In Madrid years, especially in the three peat era, it was Ronaldo and pretty much everyone else. BBC didn't really exist, it was pretty much Ronaldo on his own and Bale ocassionally.

Messi was pretty dominant in 2011 but in 14-15 it was pretty even between the MSN. In 2006 he was a passenger as well. If we are talking about the Champions league legacy, Ronaldo has a bigger legacy than Messi in my opinion.

Ronaldo from 2016 to 2018 was a goal poacher and he threw in a number of stinkers as well.

2016: terrible in the semis and final. Bailed out by his teammates. The only notable performance was a rather jammy hattrick vs a poor wolfsburg side and his general play was typically mediocre.

2017: He scored alot of clutch goals as a poacher. Very similar to Benzema's 2023 campaign.

2018: Again poor vs PSG R16 but scored, poor vs Juve at home but scored a controversial penalty, poor in the semi and final. Again teammates bailed him out.

So your statement that it was Ronaldo and everyone else is not correct at all. Plus given how he played as a goal hanger during those campaigns, his teammates like Modric, Benzema, Kroos, Bale et al provided him with the chances and compensated for his weaknesses in general play and workrate. Benzema, once free of having to work for Ronaldo, really thrived.

Apart from perhaps the 2017 win, none of the other Real Madrid's ucl wins were dominant at all. The often rode their luck vs the likes of Bayern, Liverpool etc. And this carried on even after Ronaldo left.

 

[PeteManic]

He will 100% do the 1000 goals.

 

[The Boy]

Annoying that the thread title says countdown, but I can't find current tally anywhere despite wading through posts I didn't want to read. Clickbaity.

Can we have the goal countdown number in the title please? Just so that we can know where he is at without having to go thru the same 4 people arguing circular logic over and over, mods?

Agree with both of these posts. Came into check and it's all just the same old boring CR7 vs Messi crap.

 

[Fortitude]

Do you know what I find unbelievable about this Messi/C.Ronaldo compulsion some of you have? It’s that you are willing to risk points, thread bans, banning to keep it going.

You’re asked, extremely nicely by an Admin, to please take it elsewhere, but what do you do? You carry on as if you have been overcome by temporary blindness.

What do you think the next logical step then becomes?

There was a small window for the discussion because C.Ronaldo himself mentioned the player. That window has now passed and people who don’t care for the tedious back and forths are asking that you stop (not just an Admin).

It’s getting very tedious having to treat some of you like children and the next step is simply removing privileges or applying points, that to rational minds are utterly needless.

 

[Jund]

If Wiki is to be believed, since I'm assuming it's his people that are updating it, he's on 161 for Portugal (U15 onwards) and 810 at a club level.

 

[aldair45]

Ronaldo from 2016 to 2018 was a goal poacher and he threw in a number of stinkers as well.

2016: terrible in the semis and final. Bailed out by his teammates. The only notable performance was a rather jammy hattrick vs a poor wolfsburg side and his general play was typically mediocre.

2017: He scored alot of clutch goals as a poacher. Very similar to Benzema's 2023 campaign.

2018: Again poor vs PSG R16 but scored, poor vs Juve at home but scored a controversial penalty, poor in the semi and final. Again teammates bailed him out.

So your statement that it was Ronaldo and everyone else is not correct at all. Plus given how he played as a goal hanger during those campaigns, his teammates like Modric, Benzema, Kroos, Bale et al provided him with the chances and compensated for his weaknesses in general play and workrate. Benzema, once free of having to work for Ronaldo, really thrived.

Apart from perhaps the 2017 win, none of the other Real Madrid's ucl wins were dominant at all. The often rode their luck vs the likes of Bayern, Liverpool etc. And this carried on even after Ronaldo left.

I forgot the number of times he was bailed out in UCL finals while ghosting. In 2014 by Di Maria and Sergio Ramos, in 2016 again by Ramos. In 2018 by Bale and Benzema. His only notable final performance was probably the one against Juventus otherwise anonymous.

Even in his United win where he missed the penalty in shootouts, he was so lucky that Terry slipped.

The same with the NT, it was Bernardo Silva and Nuno Mendes who were the MVPs of NL finals. In Euro 2016 final against France, his main contribution was cheerleading. Did he ever dominate a final?

 

[KingEric04]

Oh come off it. Ronaldo was rotten in 2 of those 3 finals but it was all him? That’s just not true in any way, shape or form. I know a bit of time has passed, but not enough to be completely rewriting history. He never got going against Atletico or Liverpool, probably worth mentioning he was rotten in the first final against Atletico too so really he turned up in 1 out of 4 with Madrid, Ramos was Madrid’s saviour.

Benzema and Bale scored a grand total of 1 goal combined in 2015-16 and 16-17 in the knockout stages while Ronaldo scored 16. In fact the only goal that Bale scored in three peat era was in the final against Liverpool. That says it all, doesn't it.

I forgot the number of times he was bailed out in UCL finals while ghosting. In 2014 by Di Maria and Sergio Ramos, in 2016 again by Ramos. In 2018 by Bale and Benzema. His only notable final performance was probably the one against Juventus otherwise anonymous.

Even in his United win where he missed the penalty in shootouts, he was so lucky that Terry slipped.

The same with the NT, it was Bernardo Silva and Nuno Mendes who were the MVPs of NL finals. In Euro 2016 final against France, his main contribution was cheerleading. Did he ever dominate a final?

You do realize that no player has scored more goals in the UCL finals than Ronaldo? You did write a lot of rubbish again. He was man of the match in 2017 against and was excellent in 2008. He scored an opening header, had 8 successful dribbles (which was a record at that time) and set up the best chance for Utd in that match where Cech had a double save.

And you can't be "bailed out" when you score more than a goal per match in the knockout matches. (30 goals in 28 matches for Madrid). Madrid wouldn't be even in the final in 2016 if Ronaldo didn't bail them out against Wolfsburg.

 

[aldair45]

Benzema and Bale scored a grand total of 1 goal combined in 2015-16 and 16-17 in the knockout stages while Ronaldo scored 16. In fact the only goal that Bale scored in three peat era was in the final against Liverpool. That says it all, doesn't it.

You do realize that no player has scored more goals in the UCL finals than Ronaldo? You did write a lot of rubbish again. He was man of the match in 2017 against and was excellent in 2008. He scored an opening header, had 8 successful dribbles (which was a record at that time) and set up the best chance for Utd in that match where Cech had a double save.

And you can't be "bailed out" when you score more than a goal per match in the knockout matches. (30 goals in 28 matches for Madrid). Madrid wouldn't be even in the final in 2016 if Ronaldo didn't bail them out against Wolfsburg.

He was bailed out big time in almost all major finals, pretty anonymous in 3 UCL finals with Real, cheerleading in Euro final against France, and was not even his team's best player in NL finals. These are all facts, you can't rewrite history, he ghosts all the time. He is well below Bale, Ramos when it comes to overall UCL final performances with Real. Also Di Maria who was the MOTM of the finals in 2014 (along with his Ramos' heroics) saved his poor performance in that final as usual. He was just anonymous in those 3 finals. Juventus game was the only exception. And, we all know how it went when he faced Barcelona with United in that UCL final.

He’s played six Champions League finals, one great (vs Juventus), one above average (vs Chelsea), and 4 other finals where he was anonymous.

You can't be considered a GOAT tier clutch player ghosting in most major finals being that regularly bailed out. If your focus is on being clutch as a goal scorer, he's at least a tier below Gerd Muller as Gerd would prefer to star not ghost in major finals.

And as a strong fan of knockout goal stats, you certainly can also mention his out of this world World Cup, Euro knockout records. like 3 goals and 2 assists in 21 knockout games, just remarkable ghosting as usual.

 

[Kwabs]

He was bailed out big time in almost all major finals, pretty anonymous in 3 UCL finals with Real, cheerleading in Euro final against France, and was not even his team's best player in NL finals. These are all facts, you can't rewrite history, he ghosts all the time. He is well below Bale, Ramos when it comes to overall UCL final performances with Real. Also Di Maria who was the MOTM of the finals in 2014 (along with his Ramos' heroics) saved his poor performance in that final as usual. He was just anonymous in those 3 finals. Juventus game was the only exception. And, we all know how it went when he faced Barcelona with United in that UCL final.

He’s played six Champions League finals, one great (vs Juventus), one above average (vs Chelsea), and 4 other finals where he was anonymous.

You can't be considered a GOAT tier clutch player ghosting in most major finals being that regularly bailed out. If your focus is on being clutch as a goal scorer, he's at least a tier below Gerd Muller as Gerd would prefer to star not ghost in major finals.

And as a strong fan of knockout goal stats, you certainly can also mention his out of this world World Cup, Euro knockout records. like 3 goals and 2 assists in 21 knockout games, just remarkable ghosting as usual.

This is an astonishing stat, to be honest. Basically, he's scored 143 goals for Portugal, and only 3 of those goals came in the games that really mattered. And of course he's got 0 goals and 0 assists in 8 WC KO mstches. You simply cannot be the GOAT with a return like this.

 

[fck]

This is an astonishing stat, to be honest. Basically, he's scored 143 goals for Portugal, and only 3 of those goals came in the games that really mattered. And of course he's got 0 goals and 0 assists in 8 WC KO mstches. You simply cannot be the GOAT with a return like this.

Yikes if that's true

 

[prateik]

Can he go to the US for the world cup? Or will he get "injured" right before it starts ?

 

[Vitro]

This is an astonishing stat, to be honest. Basically, he's scored 143 goals for Portugal, and only 3 of those goals came in the games that really mattered. And of course he's got 0 goals and 0 assists in 8 WC KO mstches. You simply cannot be the GOAT with a return like this.

3 goals in 21 international KO matches…..that’s an awful return even for an average striker.