Different era, different position, different football approach.
The way you put this is very misleading, as Messi wasn’t chosen best player in WC 06, WC 10, WC 18, Copa 07, Copa 11, Copa 16, Copa 19, so your claim is not exactly true to say he was voted best player in “every single tournament he played in”.Messi has been chosen as the best player in every single tournament he played in: World Cup, Copa (twice), Olympics, U-20 WC.. Ronaldo has zero.
Individually, Messi is an easy top 10..
As for most international goals, Ronaldo had to play significantly more games to break the record, his goal per game ratio is nothing special (worse than Lukaku), and without newly emerging minnows in 90s, he would be nowhere.. No one comes close to Gerd Muller in terms of national team goal scoring in Europe. He was equally lethal both in WC & EC at every stage including finals. Muller scored 68 goals in 62 games in an era where there were no Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino, Lithuania, Armenia, Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, many of which are Ronaldo's favorite opponents (44 goals in 25 games). Remove these from the equation for a fair comparison with Muller and many others, Ronaldo would have a mere 73 goals in 163 games vs Muller in 68 goals in 62 games, 5 more goals than Muller playing 101 more games
For the Euro record, again he had to play 4 more Euros and 15-20 games more than Platini to break the record.. Ronaldo had to play tons more games to have a similar number of goals and that newly emerged European minnows in 90s are his savior))
As the great Eusebio once said:
"The comparisons make me sad. It's easier now. I never played against Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan".
"It's wrong. There is no comparison. I scored my 41 goals in 60 games. It's easier now because you play more games against weak teams."
https://www.marca.com/2013/09/11/en/football/international_football/1378917585.html
Messi broke great Pele's record last year (top South American goal scorer), but nobody cares (including me) as he had to play significantly more games to break Pele's record.. does not even come to your mind when thinking about Messi's career achievements..
They've had some crackings games outside the WC, but they really lack iconic performances in the biggest international tournaments.
@Cal? Would freak out and divorce his wife?
This doesn't change the fact that Eusebio had a better WC in 66 than Ronaldo has ever had (and indeed than Messi has ever had), which is kind of the point the guy was making. What happened in qualifiers is neither here nor there.
Crazy talk. Ronaldo has never had a tournament half as good as Cruyff in the only WC he ever played in.
The Euros that Ronaldo won. Ronaldo is the all time major tournament leading scorer on 21 (WC & Euros), whilst Cruyff has just 2 goals at major tournaments - despite being exceptional at in 1974.
Yeah. Cruyff's 1974 World Cup is arguably in the top 5 international tournament performances of all time. Absolutely central to one of the greatest international teams ever as both the playmaking hub and the 1v1 defence-opener. He created the most chances ever in a single World Cup. And no padding against poorer opposition, but multiple goals and assists against top opposition at the business end of the tournament against Argentina, Brazil and West Germany.
Again, one off international tournament wise it’s true, everything’s else it’s not.
But the issue is Eusebio has done in one tournament what Ronaldo hasn't managed in 10 or so. That's the problem.
Alot of players are good in one off tournament but meh over the rest of their career. That's the thing.
Yes but Eusebio was good in that tournament and good over his career.
He only has 5 goals in 3 Euro qualifiers rounds over span of 12 years (1 goals out of 3 qualifying games for Euro 64, 2 goals out of 6 qualifying games for Euro 68, 2 goals out of 6 qualifying games for Euro 72), and failed to reach into knockout stages or to the Euro finals on each of those occasions.
Stat padding against rubbish teams like San Marino,Lithuania,Slovenia,Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,etc doesn't mean that Ronaldo has been better than Cruyff at international football.
Eusebio played in one tournament (far, far harder to qualify in those days), Ronaldo has played in 9 tournaments, soon to be 10 tournaments. Can only imagine Eusebio's stats if he played in 10 tournaments.
Truth is, he did play but failed in 3 other Euro qualifiers (64, 68, 72), and 3 other WC qualifiers (62, 70, 74).
Well, Eusébio failed to qualify for more tournaments.
Only a true Romaldo fan could try to use Portugal's 'minnow' status in World football against Eusebio and for Ronaldo
Even its harder, the fact that he only managed 10 goals out of 6 tournaments qualifiers, and only scored against the likes of Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Norway, Greece, Switzerland, Scotland, Denmark, N.Ireland in those 6 WC/Euro qualifiers, while failed to help his country to qualify for those 6 tournaments, is telling.Only a true Romaldo fan could try to use Portugal's 'minnow' status in World football against Eusebio and for Ronaldo
Qualifying for those tournaments back then was much harder than it is now. I mean the WC is about to expand to 48 teams FFS.
The WC used to have 16 teams. The Euros used to have only 4 teams. You are comparing apples and Oranges.
The other Ronaldo has 25 goals in Copa America and World Cup? That is only counting the UEFA section. Batistuta also has 23 goals in World Cup and Copa.
I think in general its hard to compare Copa stats with Euro stats, as Copa was held every other 2 or 3 years on many occasions, while Euro is only held every other 4 years, which means players could take advantage to play and score more in Copa games during their peak years. If you look at top scorer list, Copa has 24 players scoring over 10 goals, while Euro only has 1 player.
I agree with this.
I’m going off Ronaldos record at major r tournaments alone. Have San Marino,Lithuania,Slovenia,Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,etc played in major tournaments?
True but Cristiano Ronaldo's 25 appearances in the Euros would be top 10 all-time in the Copa America for example. The Euros top scorer list was weak partly because the competition only had 4 teams until 1980, 8 teams until 1996. So a lot of top European players played very few games. Platini only played 5 games. I fully expect in 20 years if they keep expanding the tournament that those names will more or less disappear and the goalscoring leaders will be close to 20 goals.
If I understand your question correctly it has to be one of Platini, Eusebio or Cruijff?
Again that needs context given the 42 games he's played in those tournaments. In World Cup games he has scored 3 goals in 7 games against Netherlands, England, France, Brazil, Spain x2 and Germany. All against Spain in one game. He played Spain 4 times in Euros and World Cup and didn't score in 3 of the 4 games.
Based on performances for national team it should be either Platini, Cruyff, Eusebio, or Puskás.
Yeah, and I’m comparing to someone with 2 goals in major tournaments.
Cruyff played everywhere in 1974, really transformative player that you can't boil down to just goals. He only ever played 8 games too. Depends what you're looking for. Longevity Ronaldo has it in spades. Peak performance at internationals, Cruyff at the 1974 World Cup was much better than any Ronaldo tournament.
You understood it very correctly!
Last season it would have been Jack Grealish
We're talking international career here, the vast majority of players have like 4 or 5 tournaments, and players from the 50s/60s fewer than that even. Of course longevity goes out the window
It's really not. I'm not sure you understand the differences between now and then to be honest. His GTG ratio overall is better than CR's.
Career v career is debatable. The fact that Eusebio's 66 perf was far better than any Ronaldo tournament performance is not. Please watch the games, especially the one v Brazil.
