Cristiano Ronaldo : The Juventus Chapter | Fin

[Bebestation]

The hate for him is beautiful

What a career that has literally no weaknesses shining through its approach.

Any other footballer having this career would be talked about in such a positive way and yet C.Ronaldo gets plenty hate

Theres people talking about how C Ronaldo shouldn't get the higher respects because he played at United, Real madrid and Juventus - yet everyone was screaming the admiration for Brazilian Ronaldo playing at Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Hell, it's so funny how average Pedro looked in the premier league and he was arguably one of the main players of the greatest team of all time..but no - he destroyed english clubs with Barcelona so let's just rate him by his ability to play with that team, in that environment and in that league

 

[Zehner]

Indisputably the best goal poacher in UCL history is the more appropriate terminology. His performances outside the goals have hardly been great.

In addition, he did not rule the EPL; one good season (07/08, more due to goals) and one very good season (06/07) does not equate to dominating; he did not dominate la liga where he won the league only twice despite all of Real Madrid's investments other then Cristiano and during his time there his game was almost entirely about poaching goals, and you cannot say he is dominating Serie A because he joined a team that was already dominating even before he arrived and his own teammate has been chosen as the best in serie A this season plus he has been outscored by some very average players despite a ton of penalties.

The major trophy with portugal was entirely luck; Portugal did not win a single game in 90 minutes (except vs a poor wales team) in the tournament and faced poor opposition through out. Ronaldo himself was actually quite poor.

The attacks vs Messi are nonsensical quite simply because he has continued dominating even after xavi and iniesta left. He has been over the last 13 seasons the best player in every aspect of the game including dribbling, creativity and goal scoring. If someone like Pique cant defend, its not Messi's fault, if Suarez has failed to score in UCL away from home since 2015, its not Messi's fault, if Higuain kept screwing up, its not messi,s fault and its not his fault either if the Argentine national team has been been mismanaged throughout his time(and even before his time with them).

Your arguments in favour of Cristiano cant be taken seriously given that you support Sporting.

Given that you are a Sporting fan, your arguments cannot be taken seriously.

Cristiano was a great dribbler up until probably around 14/15. I also disagree with the notion that he didn't dominate La Liga. Sure, he didn't win many titles and was surpassed overall during his period there but in his first years he had great overall contribution on top of many, many goals and in the latter ones he still scored like crazy. I've yet to see a third player maintain a level Cristiano has throughout so many years. If he didn't dominate La Liga, few players in history have dominated their domestic leagues at all.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Cristiano was a great dribbler up until probably around 14/15. I also disagree with the notion that he didn't dominate La Liga. Sure, he didn't win many titles and was surpassed overall during his period there but in his first years he had great overall contribution on top of many, many goals and in the latter ones he still scored like crazy. I've yet to see a third player maintain a level Cristiano has throughout so many years. If he didn't dominate La Liga, few players in history have dominated their domestic leagues at all.

Did Henry dominate the prem? 100% and he only won a handful of league titles.

 

[MrEleson]

Indisputably the best goal poacher in UCL history is the more appropriate terminology. His performances outside the goals have hardly been great.

In addition, he did not rule the EPL; one good season (07/08, more due to goals) and one very good season (06/07) does not equate to dominating; he did not dominate la liga where he won the league only twice despite all of Real Madrid's investments other then Cristiano and during his time there his game was almost entirely about poaching goals, and you cannot say he is dominating Serie A because he joined a team that was already dominating even before he arrived and his own teammate has been chosen as the best in serie A this season plus he has been outscored by some very average players despite a ton of penalties.

The major trophy with portugal was entirely luck; Portugal did not win a single game in 90 minutes (except vs a poor wales team) in the tournament and faced poor opposition through out. Ronaldo himself was actually quite poor.

The attacks vs Messi are nonsensical quite simply because he has continued dominating even after xavi and iniesta left. He has been over the last 13 seasons the best player in every aspect of the game including dribbling, creativity and goal scoring. If someone like Pique cant defend, its not Messi's fault, if Suarez has failed to score in UCL away from home since 2015, its not Messi's fault, if Higuain kept screwing up, its not messi,s fault and its not his fault either if the Argentine national team has been been mismanaged throughout his time(and even before his time with them).

Your arguments in favour of Cristiano cant be taken seriously given that you support Sporting.

Given that you are a Sporting fan, your arguments cannot be taken seriously.

Nonsensical post. What you wrote is not only factually incorrect but just plain and deliberate dishonesty stemming from some deep loathe of the player. If he didn’t dominate or have a historical impact in any of the leagues or competitions written in your post, then simply, nobody else who ever laced a pair of football boots did either.

 

[Henandez14]

There's a big chance Juve wouldn't have been champions this year with the much improved opposition without Ronaldo.

Of course you could also argue that Sarri would have a more balanced team without having to shoehorn both CR and Dybala into a functional side.

Personally I think Juve would be a lot worse without Ronaldo and they have their terrible transfer policy to blame. It's not just the goals but the winning mentality ans ambition he brings as well.

Serie A is in the worst state it’s been in years

 

[MrEleson]

Serie A is in the worst state it’s been in years

How so? They’ve got a rejuvenated Inter side that finished merely 1 point behind Juve. An Atalanta side that appeared out of virtually nowhere to have a historic season and are in the QFs of the CL with a very good possibility of progressing even further with revelations like Papu Gomez, Ilicic & Duvan Zapata the driving force behind it all. A lazio side with a player that just became only the 2nd player ever to win the golden boot in the Messi-Ronaldo era, not to mention the other quality players in that team like L.Alberto & Milinkovic-Savic. Then you have Milan on a mini-renaissance playing sublime football recently and even the likes of Sassuolo in the league playing great football. If anything the league has been pretty good recently.

 

[GifLord]

How so? They’ve got a rejuvenated Inter side that finished merely 1 point behind Juve. An Atalanta side that appeared out of virtually nowhere to have a historic season and are in the QFs of the CL with a very good possibility of progressing even further with revelations like Papu Gomez, Ilicic & Duvan Zapata the driving force behind it all. A lazio side with a player that just became only the 2nd player ever to win the golden boot in the Messi-Ronaldo era, not to mention the other quality players in that team like L.Alberto & Milinkovic-Savic. Then you have Milan on a mini-renaissance playing sublime football recently and even the likes of Sassuolo in the league playing great football. If anything the league has been pretty good recently.

Inter only finished 1 point behind Juve because Juve didn't care anymore - they became champions 3 rounds ago. Atalanta will probably lose to PSG, their form has been dipping ever since the Juve draw, there's also no Ilicic who added another element in Atalanta's attack. I don't believe Lazio will do the same next season - they've massively overachieved. Milan's form is like a coin flip.
Napoli and Roma are like the English version of Arsenal -> bottlers

 

[Oly Francis]

How so? They’ve got a rejuvenated Inter side that finished merely 1 point behind Juve. An Atalanta side that appeared out of virtually nowhere to have a historic season and are in the QFs of the CL with a very good possibility of progressing even further with revelations like Papu Gomez, Ilicic & Duvan Zapata the driving force behind it all. A lazio side with a player that just became only the 2nd player ever to win the golden boot in the Messi-Ronaldo era, not to mention the other quality players in that team like L.Alberto & Milinkovic-Savic. Then you have Milan on a mini-renaissance playing sublime football recently and even the likes of Sassuolo in the league playing great football. If anything the league has been pretty good recently.

It's not the worst, and you're pretty right about the new teams emerging. But defensively it has been the worst I've ever seen. Serie A used to be a pretty tight championiship, but this year was the biggest amount of goals scored since 1951 or something. It lost its defensive identity (i'm not saying its good or bad, that's the way it is).

 

[Zehner]

Did Henry dominate the prem? 100% and he only won a handful of league titles.

It's odd to suggest the opposite, true. That's the kind of discrediting that makes discussions about those two players so toxic at times.

 

[Adisa]

Indisputably the best goal poacher in UCL history is the more appropriate terminology. His performances outside the goals have hardly been great.

In addition, he did not rule the EPL; one good season (07/08, more due to goals) and one very good season (06/07) does not equate to dominating; he did not dominate la liga where he won the league only twice despite all of Real Madrid's investments other then Cristiano and during his time there his game was almost entirely about poaching goals, and you cannot say he is dominating Serie A because he joined a team that was already dominating even before he arrived and his own teammate has been chosen as the best in serie A this season plus he has been outscored by some very average players despite a ton of penalties.

The major trophy with portugal was entirely luck; Portugal did not win a single game in 90 minutes (except vs a poor wales team) in the tournament and faced poor opposition through out. Ronaldo himself was actually quite poor.

The attacks vs Messi are nonsensical quite simply because he has continued dominating even after xavi and iniesta left. He has been over the last 13 seasons the best player in every aspect of the game including dribbling, creativity and goal scoring. If someone like Pique cant defend, its not Messi's fault, if Suarez has failed to score in UCL away from home since 2015, its not Messi's fault, if Higuain kept screwing up, its not messi,s fault and its not his fault either if the Argentine national team has been been mismanaged throughout his time(and even before his time with them).

Your arguments in favour of Cristiano cant be taken seriously given that you support Sporting.

Given that you are a Sporting fan, your arguments cannot be taken seriously.

Ridiculous post.

 

[MrEleson]

But defensively it has been the worst I've ever seen. Serie A used to be a pretty tight championiship, but this year was the biggest amount of goals scored since 1951 or something. It lost its defensive identity (i'm not saying its good or bad, that's the way it is).

True but I think that’s in part due to the new hand ball rules and interpretation of VAR. There are more penalties being awarded this season than ever before leading to far more goals being conceded by teams.

 

[Zehner]

True but I think that’s in part due to the new hand ball rules and interpretation of VAR. There are more penalties being awarded this season than ever before leading to far more goals being conceded by teams.

The amount of penalty goals is really insane. Immobile is at 14, Cristiano at 12, Macosu at 9, Belotti at 7, Lukaku at 6. In the PL, Rashford is the best it seems with 6, in the Bundesliga it's 5, in La Liga 7. This is a huge, huge difference. Crazy.

 

[MrEleson]

Inter only finished 1 point behind Juve because Juve didn't care anymore - they became champions 3 rounds ago. Atalanta will probably lose to PSG, their form has been dipping ever since the Juve draw, there's also no Ilicic who added another element in Atalanta's attack. I don't believe Lazio will do the same next season - they've massively overachieved. Milan's form is like a coin flip.
Napoli and Roma are like the English version of Arsenal -> bottlers

Maybe so. But only time will tell. I think inter will improve further next season. Atalanta can continue to re-invest in their squad with the CL money they will receive and should continue to over-achieve if they keep the same coach, maintain the same ideologies and philosophy. You’re right, it’s difficult to judge the other teams but I think generally the quality in the league isn’t necessarily getting worse or even at the worst its been in years. The other teams are undoubtedly a lot closer to Juve than they were in previous seasons

 

[Oly Francis]

True but I think that’s in part due to the new hand ball rules and interpretation of VAR. There are more penalties being awarded this season than ever before leading to far more goals being conceded by teams.

Yes, there's several factors. But for exemple this year, Juventus concedeed 43 goals. In 2016, it was 20 and not only because of penalties.
It's not even a matter of statistics, for those who watch the games on a regulard basis, they can all see that it's not as defensive as it used to be. I wish we had the same kind of revolution in France.

 

[Ronaldo's Mum Eh?]

The hate for him is beautiful

What a career that has literally no weaknesses shining through its approach.

Any other footballer having this career would be talked about in such a positive way and yet C.Ronaldo gets plenty hate

Theres people talking about how C Ronaldo shouldn't get the higher respects because he played at United, Real madrid and Juventus - yet everyone was screaming the admiration for Brazilian Ronaldo playing at Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Hell, it's so funny how average Pedro looked in the premier league and he was arguably one of the main players of the greatest team of all time..but no - he destroyed english clubs with Barcelona so let's just rate him by his ability to play with that team, in that environment and in that league

Look at the Sancho thread.

Lots of posters creaming themselves about his goals, yet most of his goals last year/this year were tap-ins.

When Ronaldo scores those, you have everyone saying he's a tap-in merchant.

People are funny.

 

[Jericho]

The hate for him is beautiful

What a career that has literally no weaknesses shining through its approach.

Any other footballer having this career would be talked about in such a positive way and yet C.Ronaldo gets plenty hate

Theres people talking about how C Ronaldo shouldn't get the higher respects because he played at United, Real madrid and Juventus - yet everyone was screaming the admiration for Brazilian Ronaldo playing at Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Hell, it's so funny how average Pedro looked in the premier league and he was arguably one of the main players of the greatest team of all time..but no - he destroyed english clubs with Barcelona so let's just rate him by his ability to play with that team, in that environment and in that league

I think most people knew what Pedro was when he was at Barcelona - a good player in a great team. I doubt many expected him to tear up the premier league.

Ronaldo is obviously a great player. But of course someone as high profile as him will get hate. I myself am put off by his seeming lack of humility on the pitch. And while I appreciate he is and has been great, I find his play style to be very narrowly focused on scoring goals and not particularly compelling to watch in general. If it's all about numbers then Lewandoski is above him at the moment.

 

[Suedesi]

He's worth nearly a billion, don't think 15-20-25 mil makes a difference for him.

Is that why he cheats on his taxes?

 

[SportingCP96]

Are you still going

You must have made about 1000 posts on Ronaldo in the Ronaldo threads and the Ronaldo vs Messi threads. It’s like a disease.

I haven’t been on the Messi vs Ronaldo thread in over 8 months.

Come with facts not fiction.


You on the other hand practically live in this thread.

 

[SportingCP96]

Indisputably the best goal poacher in UCL history is the more appropriate terminology. His performances outside the goals have hardly been great.

In addition, he did not rule the EPL; one good season (07/08, more due to goals) and one very good season (06/07) does not equate to dominating; he did not dominate la liga where he won the league only twice despite all of Real Madrid's investments other then Cristiano and during his time there his game was almost entirely about poaching goals, and you cannot say he is dominating Serie A because he joined a team that was already dominating even before he arrived and his own teammate has been chosen as the best in serie A this season plus he has been outscored by some very average players despite a ton of penalties.

The major trophy with portugal was entirely luck; Portugal did not win a single game in 90 minutes (except vs a poor wales team) in the tournament and faced poor opposition through out. Ronaldo himself was actually quite poor.

The attacks vs Messi are nonsensical quite simply because he has continued dominating even after xavi and iniesta left. He has been over the last 13 seasons the best player in every aspect of the game including dribbling, creativity and goal scoring. If someone like Pique cant defend, its not Messi's fault, if Suarez has failed to score in UCL away from home since 2015, its not Messi's fault, if Higuain kept screwing up, its not messi,s fault and its not his fault either if the Argentine national team has been been mismanaged throughout his time(and even before his time with them).

Your arguments in favour of Cristiano cant be taken seriously given that you support Sporting.

Given that you are a Sporting fan, your arguments cannot be taken seriously.

So your response is since I’m a sporting fan my points don’t matter?

Debating at its finest right here.

The only way Messi can surpass Ronaldo at this point is too win a major international trophy.

If Ronaldo wins 1 more CL the debate it self is over.

 

[SportingCP96]

All Portugal on here defending their God-like footballer? Not impressed.
Ligue 1 fans impersonating the Frog against the Serie A Ox? Not impressed.
PSG snatching Ronaldo from the jaws of these sad losers, low-tiers Juve? Please, do! Do. It. Now!!

Aren’t you the guy who said Sarri was a great coach and defending “Sarri ball”?

I think your points can’t be trusted anymore.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

So your response is since I’m a sporting fan my points don’t matter?

Debating at its finest right here.

The only way Messi can surpass Ronaldo at this point is too win a major international trophy.

If Ronaldo wins 1 more CL the debate it self is over.

You don't need to surpass someone you're already ahead of.

 

[SportingCP96]

You don't need to surpass someone you're already ahead of.

Has not been ahead of him for quite some time now.

After 2016 Ronaldo took a lap lead in the race.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Has not been ahead of him for quite some time now.

After 2016 Ronaldo took a lap lead in the race.

Sure, but that never actually happened. Ronaldo equalled him for Balon Dors which became the only super credible reason to claim superiority for him to get superpassed on that count as well, after which it became meaningless again.

The "lap lead" took place only in this echo chamber thread.

 

[VanKenny]

So your response is since I’m a sporting fan my points don’t matter?

Debating at its finest right here.

The only way Messi can surpass Ronaldo at this point is too win a major international trophy.

If Ronaldo wins 1 more CL the debate it self is over.

Ill do you one better:


Only way CR7 surpasses Messi really is if CR7 somehow becomes a significantly better football player than what he has shown us for the last 15 years. Extremely unlikely, but really thats it, basically become a better football player and maintain it for a long period of time.


Juventus could somehow win the next 3 CLs and Portugal the next 2 world cups, but that wont make CR7 a better football player than Messi. Millions of different factors contribute into a team winning a trophy or not, its silly to claim "this team won this trophy because individually x as a player is better than y"

 

[SirAF]

@golden_blunder Seems like people are not able to read.

 

[roonster09]

All Portugal on here defending their God-like footballer? Not impressed.
Ligue 1 fans impersonating the Frog against the Serie A Ox? Not impressed.
PSG snatching Ronaldo from the jaws of these sad losers, low-tiers Juve? Please, do! Do. It. Now!!

I thought Ronaldo was one your best players, Juve fans want him out?

 

[broccoli]

This is the same story with Messi and Suarez. If your two best players, who perform like world class players, are a tactical problem, then the manager is the problem


They already had that though. His signing gave them more of that plus enthusiasm, but he didn't make that big of a difference there

Obviously he's not carrying Juve like Maradona did but how many more players in the world are currently so important to their teams as Ronaldo is to this Juventus? Lewandowski and not many more.

The effect of having someone in the box who can score from virtually any scenario (header, right or left foot, burst of acceleration, etc) can't be understated. Even if he's heavily marked he opens space for other attackers such as Dybala. Higuain or Immobile for instance don't have the same effect even if they are great finishers.

Serie A is in the worst state it’s been in years

I personally think it's quite obvious how Italian teams have improved since Ronaldo joined and brought another light to the league. Top clubs are all coached by good managers now and all seem on an upward curve in terms of quality in their play. I see Milan, Lazio, etc playing with more grit and more tightness than i've seen for several years.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Ill do you one better:


Only way CR7 surpasses Messi really is if CR7 somehow becomes a significantly better football player than what he has shown us for the last 15 years. Extremely unlikely, but really thats it, basically become a better football player and maintain it for a long period of time.


Juventus could somehow win the next 3 CLs and Portugal the next 2 world cups, but that wont make CR7 a better football player than Messi. Millions of different factors contribute into a team winning a trophy or not, its silly to claim "this team won this trophy because individually x as a player is better than y"

So the argument that Messi has won more la ligas than Ronaldo that someone else used as a stick to beat Ronaldo with is moot. Glad we agree.

 

[Zehner]

So the argument that Messi has won more la ligas than Ronaldo that someone else used as a stick to beat Ronaldo with is moot. Glad we agree.

Yes it is. Trophies are one of the worst ways to assess how good a player has been which is why the Ballon D'Or nowadays is just a joke of a price.

Cristiano himself is actually the best example for that. During his peak, he won comparitively few trophies. His legacy defining years were definitely not his best from an individual perspective, if you ask me. He peaked between 2008 and 2014 - those are also the years during which the gap between Messi and him was the closest, IMO.

 

[Zehner]

I personally think it's quite obvious how Italian teams have improved since Ronaldo joined and brought another light to the league. Top clubs are all coached by good managers now and all seem on an upward curve in terms of quality in their play. I see Milan, Lazio, etc playing with more grit and more tightness than i've seen for several years.

It definitely has been a very long while since Milan and Inter got their shit together and Lazio and Atalanta are also pretty, pretty good. However, I think Sarri's Napoli was still better than all of those teams and probably would've won the league this season. So you could argue that the league in general improved but the fiercest competitor became worse after Ronaldo joined the league.

 

[giorno]

Obviously he's not carrying Juve like Maradona did but how many more players in the world are currently so important to their teams as Ronaldo is to this Juventus? Lewandowski and not many more.

Messi is still the single biggest outsized influence on his team in the world. Milan have been the second best team in serie A since God showed up [NOBODY dominates serie A like Ibra. Nobody. Possibly ever]

But yeah, he is *too* important for juventus given how little the team is built around him

The effect of having someone in the box who can score from virtually any scenario (header, right or left foot, burst of acceleration, etc) can't be understated. Even if he's heavily marked he opens space for other attackers such as Dybala. Higuain or Immobile for instance don't have the same effect even if they are great finishers.

I don't disagree. What i'm saying is he hasn't elevated them quite enough. But again, not something that can be blamed on him

I personally think it's quite obvious how Italian teams have improved since Ronaldo joined and brought another light to the league. Top clubs are all coached by good managers now and all seem on an upward curve in terms of quality in their play.

Oh yes, absolutely. Though i'm not sure the overall quality has gone up yet. Been pretty much on the level it's been since 15/16 i would say. Which is not pre-calciopoli, but still a pretty strong league. And it does seem as though the big teams(inter and milan) are on the track to get better. Napoli were very good under Sarri but ultimately they're limited in how good they can realistically get. Same with Roma under Garcia and Spalletti.

Btw, i've seen mentioned how serie A defences have been bad this season. It's not true. The level has been pretty much the same these past decade, with the exception of 16/17 when half the league was on holidays by February. Reason for the massive uptick in goals is 180 penalties conceded

 

[Henandez14]

Yes it is. Trophies are one of the worst ways to assess how good a player has been which is why the Ballon D'Or nowadays is just a joke of a price.

Cristiano himself is actually the best example for that. During his peak, he won comparitively few trophies. His legacy defining years were definitely not his best from an individual perspective, if you ask me. He peaked between 2008 and 2014 - those are also the years during which the gap between Messi and him was the closest, IMO.

I’ve always wanted to say this, Ronaldo catching up was due more to Messi declining faster rather than anything he did. The Ronaldo that came second to Messi for 4 years in a row is actually better than 3 peat winning Ronaldo

 

[Oly Francis]

Btw, i've seen mentioned how serie A defences have been bad this season. It's not true. The level has been pretty much the same these past decade, with the exception of 16/17 when half the league was on holidays by February. Reason for the massive uptick in goals is 180 penalties conceded

That's simply not true.

1st : watching the games, it's pretty obvious.
2nd : if you want to use stats 1154 goals have been scored this season, 1019 last year and 1017 the year before. In 2012 it was 972.
More pens were awarded yes, my stats say 187 this season when it was 122 last season. So it doesn't add up. The difference is even less significant since its the penalty conceeded stat and not those that were scored.

 

[giorno]

That's simply not true.

1st : watching the games, it's pretty obvious.

What's your reference of comparison though. Pre-Calciopoli? Then yes, defences are significantly worse now. The league in general is

Compared to the last few seasons? Not really. Better attacks. Particularly Atalanta

2nd : if you want to use stats 1154 goals have been scored this season, 1019 last year and 1017 the year before. In 2012 it was 972.

In 2012 the league was significantly worse as a whole. Teams didn't defend well either, attacks were just worse

But you're right, even accounting for the mind-boggling number of penalties this was an usually high scoring season, comparable to 16/17. Whether that's thanks to better attacks or worse defences is hard to say. Watching the league, i don't think defences were particularly worse this season compared to the last few years.

Another big factor was the lockdown. The goal per game rate went from 2.9 pre lockdown to 3.3 post lockdown. That's a massive difference. There's also a significant difference in the number of penalties pre/post. Mind, the rate was still absurdly high, but still. Going from 0.47 to 0.53 is another massive jump

It really was a different league pre/post

Edit: in terms of xG/xGA when you account for the difference in number of penalties the difference is not that significant(.14) but when compared to goals scored, this season has seen significantly better finishing. Gets even higher when counting totals including/excluding all penalties/penalties scored

 

[SportingCP96]

Ill do you one better:


Only way CR7 surpasses Messi really is if CR7 somehow becomes a significantly better football player than what he has shown us for the last 15 years. Extremely unlikely, but really thats it, basically become a better football player and maintain it for a long period of time.


Juventus could somehow win the next 3 CLs and Portugal the next 2 world cups, but that wont make CR7 a better football player than Messi. Millions of different factors contribute into a team winning a trophy or not, its silly to claim "this team won this trophy because individually x as a player is better than y"

He has been though for years now. A lot of factors come into play.

Also trophies do matter, it’s not “everything” but what defines a players greatness is in fact trophies. When it comes to the biggest ones Ronaldo won the biggest. All of this even though Messi had a 3x superior team then anything Ronaldo has had.

For years the tie breaker between the two was always “who can do it at the international stage” and Ronaldo did just that. Not only did he do that but he made Portugal a perennial contender for any competition they played even though they were never favorites.

Look at how many times Portugal qualifies to a major tournament before Ronaldo compared to after he joined.

Messi declines rather quickly and coincidently it also coincided with the decline of the greatest club football team of all time/national team of all time.

Ronaldo passed Messi back in 2016 and Messi has not been able to catch up since.

*also if Ronaldo was to win 3 more CL like the example you said it would absolutely put him on a whole other tier in comparison to Messi.

Look at any Sport trophies define greatness. Yes it’s a team sport but 9x out of 10 you need greatness from your best player.

You think the 3 peat would happen without Ronaldo? Absolutely not.

Portugal would be in the final without Ronaldo? Absolutely not.

 

[Zehner]

@SportingCP96 will you answer how exactly Cristiano contrinuted so much to Madrid's three CL trophies in a row, goals aside?

 

[SportingCP96]

@SportingCP96 will you answer how exactly Cristiano contrinuted so much to Madrid's three CL trophies in a row, goals aside?

Assists (he has the most assists in CL history for a reason. Leading the break as Real Madrid was always a good counter attacking side. Creating space for benzema and Bale, providing link up play to the midfielders along with the other two up front as well. Going in between the lines. Did his part in defending set pieces as well.

Oh and almost 20 goals a season in the CL alone.

If you think Ronaldo is just a “poacher” like a better version of inzaghi or a Javier Hernandez then I am not sure what you were doing while those games were happening.

The assumption that the only thing Ronaldo offers to a team is goals is a different level of daft then I can comprehend.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

I haven’t been on the Messi vs Ronaldo thread in over 8 months.

Come with facts not fiction.


You on the other hand practically live in this thread.

It was tongue in cheek, but that is a bit rich, you are in nearly every page of this thread.

 

[roonster09]

Assists (he has the most assists in CL history for a reason. Leading the break as Real Madrid was always a good counter attacking side. Creating space for benzema and Bale, providing link up play to the midfielders along with the other two up front as well. Going in between the lines. Did his part in defending set pieces as well.

Oh and almost 20 goals a season in the CL alone.

If you think Ronaldo is just a “poacher” like a better version of inzaghi or a Javier Hernandez then I am not sure what you were doing while those games were happening.

The assumption that the only thing Ronaldo offers to a team is goals is a different level of daft then I can comprehend.

Yeah, good points. He even made half chances look like good chance, average cross into good man. He was a machine. I can't believe anyone even questions Ronaldo and his contribution for Madrid.

 

[SportingCP96]

Yeah, good points. He even made half chances look like good chance, average cross into good man. He was a machine. I can't believe anyone even questions Ronaldo and his contribution for Madrid.

I just can’t believe the idea that people think he just hangs around in the box and gets his goals. There is soooo much more to this game and he has been proven that.

Man that goal vs Juve Sure was a nice poachers goal

Oh and in that same play it was he who set up Isco (I think was Isco) with the Initial shot that Buffon saved.

Soon after he scored arguably the greatest goal in CL history.