Top 5 or 6? He’s the ultimate GOAT! Just happy I watched him play in our red jersey. Yet another clutch moment last night with his two goals to rescue Juve to add to a never-ending list, which I don’t see stopping until he’s 42.
Cristiano Ronaldo should go down as top 5-6 players of all time
- Thread starter Interval
- Start date
There's absolutely no point comparing between eras, I'd go as far as to say players should only be compared to those who played at the same time.
He's the modern day Gerhard Muller.
Thought it would be clear to someone who so regularly ranks all their respective attributes out of 10.
But simply it’s because you prize longevity much higher than those who place Ronaldo in the top 5. And the fact people value different things in determining the GOAT is why there will never be a clear answer.
Him and Messi are 1a and 1b. Both have everything, the trophies, insane scoring numbers, consistency, longevity and pushing the bar for greatness.
easily one of the best Portugese wingers in the last 20 years.
Not really. Ronaldo is definitely not in an exclusive club of three considering someone called Pele is considered among any highest bracket that exists. I like the "not much debate" about him being levels above Pele.Imo, if he's not in your too five you need your head checked.
This man has been banging goals at the very highest level for 15 years. Half of the players I am seeing didn't even play at a reasonable level for that long.
He is head and shoulders the greatest goal scorer of all time. The man is a phenomenon.
This man has been banging goals at the very highest level for 15 years. Half of the players I am seeing didn't even play at a reasonable level for that long.
He is head and shoulders the greatest goal scorer of all time. The man is a phenomenon.
Not only that, I price everything - goals, stats, achievements, records, success, trophies, individual honours, talent, mentality, peak, length of peak, consistency, longetivity, impact on winning, overall influence in the game, legacy etc
With all things considered, fat Ronaldo is at least 1-2 tiers below the top 5.
Of course, if you ignore everything else, and consider only talent or the very peak level, then fat ronaldo maybe just as good as George Best, Garrincha or even Ronaldinho. But GOAT should includes everything, we are not only talking about the most talent player ever, but the "greatest" player ever, the really top ones. He is nowhere near the top 5 greatest or the very very top over the course of football history, far from it. He did has the potential though, but for some obvious reason, it didn't materialised.
Last edited:
Real Ronaldo was a breathtaking footballer. This one is a great goalscorer... especially in an era where there's more goals per game games.
Don't really care about who the GOAT is, but I wish people would stop calling Ronaldo 'Fat Ronaldo'. A little bit of me dies inside every time I see it.
Don't @ me
Don't @ me
No Puskas?
After 5 it kinda gets a bit murkier. I'd put him at 6 or 7 depending....
It’s still about peak v longevity.
Interesting to see where you place him and who else is ahead if he’s 1-2 tiers below the top 5.
Definitely 4th.
He’ll go down on the top 5-6 players of all time.
I think it’s a top 5 in no particular order between Ronnie, Messi, Maradona, Pelé and Ashley Grimes.
He belongs in the top tier of footballers who've played the sport. Beyond that who cares about the exact ranking
I mean, you are entitled to that opinion but just to nitpick with one example (among others) — why would someone like Beckenbauer rank below them (or some other Top 3 permutation that excludes him)?
- Greatest player of a nation that boasts the second highest number of World Cup titles and the highest number of European Championship titles.
- Greatest player of one of the most successful European clubs, Bayern Munich — who trailed 1860 Munich as the biggest club in the city before Beckenbauer (something that he helped remedy).
- 11 times in the Top 10 of the Ballon D'Or, including twice as the winner — a testament to his consistency.
- Utterly fantastic in every World Cup participation: in 1966 he was the best young player and the third highest overall scorer and needed special attention from Bobby Charlton at age 20, in 1970 he was again crucial in West Germany's march to the semi-final where he played with an arm sling in the The Match of the Century, and in 1974 he captained the vanquishers of the Dutch totaalvoetbal juggernaut — no other GOAT candidate won a World Cup by overcoming such a monstrous opponent.
- Captained West Germany to the 1972 European Championship title, forming an incredibly entertaining axis with Netzer.
- Captained his club to back-to-back-to-back European Cup titles.
- Quite possibly the greatest defender ever and quite possibly the greatest midfielder ever, while transcending both positions/functions — no one else matches that.
- Also quite possibly the greatest defensive strategist and playmaker ever, would orchestrate his team and games from the back in effortless fashion.
- Aesthetically brilliant: a picture of calm, superb ball control and a delightful touch, could single-handedly transition the ball to the opposite end of the pitch.
- Helped pioneer and optimize the graceful yet invigorating Libero archetype — even Baresi and Passarella were called Kaiser as an homage to the original Der Kaiser.
You could argue that there's no real objectively defined Top 3 that can be held up as the universal gold-standard — as there's a fluid cohort of players that can all make a valid claim, and as observers we're swayed by hearsay, personal preference and other biases to varying degrees (like undervaluing massively influential/inspirational midfielders or defenders in relation to forwards).
Top 5-6? GOAT . No question.
The problem is when you say players of all-time, it then completely ignores midfielders, defenders, or goalkeepers. Beckenbauer for example goes down as a greater player to me than CR7 for his accomplishments both at club level and internationally. If we're talking strictly forwards, then I can't see how anybody doesn't have him in the top 6.
I was busy with something else while writing my post and then after posting I see you broke down exactly what I was thinking.
That's one of the oldest debates isn't it. Some of the great defenders never get mentioned as the best players in the world because the skill level is different Let's be honest, it's harder to score a goal than to defend a goal. As a defender, you've got people around you to help defend, plus a keeper to help you. So attacking players are always going to win the whole best player in the world debate because of the skill level involved.
A big debate would be who was the best leader / captain in the world ever. That means so many more defenders and midfielders would be included, but players like Maradona / Crujiff etc would still be in the debate, but others like Fat Ronaldo (who by the way I rate as the best striker ever) might still be out of the running.
Peak fat Ronaldo was insanely good.
Watch his highlights in his prime, it’s like watching FIFA in some cheat mode and in fast forward.
Nobody combined skill, power and speed quite like El Fenomeno
The thing about Beckenbauer is that he's not valued that highly for simply defending. He was the epitome of the playmaking/attacking libero (plus a historically great central midfielder earlier in his career). He had the skills and ability to run a game of an all-time great playmaker, only playing from a deeper position.
@Invictus' post above sums him up nicely.
Well no one can deny that. He is by far the most accomplished player in history. No one has such a combination of both team and individual success.
Honestly, maybe something is wrong with me, but I don't get impressed at all with this footage. I'm pretty certain you can find quite a few similar highlights from Cristiano, plus a lot more.
Don't get me wrong, Fenomeno was one of a kind but people really are being unfair on the players in the new era due to emotional bias. Put Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi in this type of old football matches and they would annihilate teams. What this video shows is what Messi and CR7 were doing almost every game for about 10 years. It's just a totally different level.
Easily the most controversial thread I've ever seen anywhere, ever!
By top 5 or 6 you mean top 2 and thats touch and go with Leo for no.1.
My top 10 changes every year, currently it is":
Pele
Messi
Maradona
Cristiano
Di Stefano
Cruyff
Beckenbauer
Zico
Platini
Puskas
Pele
Messi
Maradona
Cristiano
Di Stefano
Cruyff
Beckenbauer
Zico
Platini
Puskas
And Luis Ronaldo isn't a top 10 player, and neither is he, the undisputed best center forward.
We could argue, but the likes of Romario, Van Basten, Eusebio, Gred Muller and so on are all in the conversation. And top 10 all time lists aren't about ability, but a combination of many factors.
We could argue, but the likes of Romario, Van Basten, Eusebio, Gred Muller and so on are all in the conversation. And top 10 all time lists aren't about ability, but a combination of many factors.
This Ronaldo turned into a great goalscorer halfway through his career after being a breathtaking footballer. At a similar point of his career fat Ronaldo retired injured.
To call this Ronaldo just a great goalscorer is outright incorrect
Modern day goat is either Ronaldo or Messi
No, just no.
I rank players like Pele, Beckenbauer and Cruyff comfortably ahead of Cristiano.
I mean, it's not like he just got garbage at everything apart from goalscoring, CR7 was both a breathtaking footballer and a genuis-level goalscorer at the same time for about 6-7 seasons. The amount of underrating of his abilities and achievements on the pitch is just criminal.
I bet if people were watching every second of every game from their old school idols, their whole idea about football would change. It's like these legends of the past played all the time just as good as their highlights shows it. Kind of laughable, honestly.
The best footballer of all time is between Baresi and Yashin. The best forward is Platini for some reason. I am worth listening to.
With Fat Ronaldo, it's his lack of longevity that hurts him. Amazing payer but injuries were detrimental to his standing in the pantheon of greats.
I might understand it on a say, inter Milan board, but the Ronaldo that played for us was sensational and a hell of a lot more than just a goalscorer.
He changed his entire play style as he got older and reinveted himself
What a riveting original refreshing debate