Ronaldinho's Barcelona team

[.Rossi]

Ronaldinho at his peak was the most exciting player I've ever seen!

I'll always remember the goal he scored against Chelsea at the Nou Camp. When he ran at Chelsea's defence and John Terry tried to take him out of it but Terry literally bounced off him!

The guy had everything

I can't compare the two teams as my opinion is heavily swayed thanks to two CL final defeats which left me with pure hatred for Pep's Barcelona team

 

[JaffyJoe]

Ronaldinho at his peak was the most exciting player I've ever seen!

I'll always remember the goal he scored against Chelsea at the Nou Camp. When he ran at Chelsea's defence and John Terry tried to take him out of it but Terry literally bounced off him!

The guy had everything

I can't compare the two teams as my opinion is heavily swayed thanks to two CL final defeats which left me with pure hatred for Pep's Barcelona team

I remember that goal he was powerful, quick, skillful, creative, prolific he had it all.

 

[Gio]

That video.

Unbelievably player. I have always said that he is, by a million miles, the most naturally talented, most gifted player to have ever played the game. There is simply no one like him.

Not necessarily sure about that, but his manipulation of a ball in tight spaces was unparalleled in the last 25 years.

 

[Balu]

Well yeah, i'm in the same boat as you & our opinion will not matter much, understandably, to the people who were around during the days of Pele & Maradona, but I simply find it so hard to believe there ever was someone like Ronaldinho. What he does is just magic. He may not be the greatest, many more were more efficient, productive, consistent, etc etc but what an entertainer he was...

I think Garrincha was the more exciting one back then. Pele was always more about efficiency. I think that's one of the reasons why Garrincha is up until today equally loved in Brazil (as far as I know). He's the troubled genius, fighting with personal problems but on the pitch "the angel with bent legs" who brought joy to the people.

 

[Gio]

Well we all love the flawed genius, usually a man of the people, but I think some of the Garrincha stuff in recent years can get over-played. Not that he didn't dominate a World Cup as he did in '62, but there's been a lot of romanticising of him since the Ruy Castro book was published a few years ago.

 

[Moby]

Garrincha would always be loved more and is probably the "greater" in Brazilian history but no one (from BRA) can really match Pele as a player. Zico came the closest.

 

[Gio]

Here's Fortitude typically excellent post on Garrincha:

I have studied a lot in regards to this subject and all. I can tell you that Garrincha was the 'player of the people' he played for them and they loved him for it. Pele was seen as a bit of a robot, although great, he wasn't there to entertain the masses deliberately whereas Garrincha was a showman and a vagabond outside of football never detached from the (his) people:

A womanizer, a drunk and a lover of nightlife and parties. I don't know if you have ever read about the Malandro of Brazil, but this is what Garrincha was seen as. He is the most loved player Brazil has ever produced and you'll rarely hear a bad word about him, whereas there's a lot of people who don't like Pele and have tarred his name in Brazil since his playing days.

Maradona is loved over Di Stefano and Moreno in his homeland for a similar reason if we disregard his winning exploits. Like Garrincha, he didn't win that much at club level when compared to Di Stefano, but he played for the people and wasn't strait-laced at all, in fact, like Garrincha he's seen as fallable and human for having the life he has had.

These types will never be displaced by a pure footballer, even if by some act of God a player better than Maradona did emerge for Argentina, I doubt he would take the hearts of the Argentines unless he was as much of a tainted genius as Maradona. Romario is loved in Brazil for a similar reason over Ronaldo. It's hard to say who was better, but there's no doubting who holds the heart of their people.

 

[Balu]

That's what I meant. Pele was more a efficient player like Messi or Ronaldo today, not like Ronaldinho who was way more entertaining, imo. I wasn't trying to argue who was the better player or anything like that.

 

[Cantona'sCollar]

Not necessarily sure about that, but his manipulation of a ball in tight spaces was unparalleled in the last 25 years.

Completely agree - along side Maradona (and then a few other of the mortals, such as Iniesta etc) he was one of the best when in a tight space, he would turn nothing into a goal (See his Chelsea goal). But for sheer flair & wow factor, Ronaldinho is unrivalled in my eyes - he was the ultimate showman.

 

[Cantona'sCollar]

I think Garrincha was the more exciting one back then. Pele was always more about efficiency. I think that's one of the reasons why Garrincha is up until today equally loved in Brazil (as far as I know). He's the troubled genius, fighting with personal problems but on the pitch "the angel with bent legs" who brought joy to the people.

Would have loved to watch Garrincha play in the flesh, I was in awe of him watching old Botafogo videos when I was younger. You're totally right about him being adored in Brasil - he was indeed a very flawed man, known as 'alegria do povo' (joy of the people), & I think he was above Pele in the eyes of Brasilians in terms of favouritism. He was totally destroyed by drink, women and his leg problems (one leg shorter than the other, and they were bent like brackets) but just give him a ball and he did the business. Amazing. I hear he played through the pain barrier for hundreds of matches.

A funny story I heard about Mane Garrincha, I think from an interview of one of his old teammates - he spoke of how they had just thrashed a team in the World Cup, perhaps USSR but I don't remember, & then they were in the airport shortly after that. The Brasil team saw a group of dejected-looking, tired men in track suits. Garrincha asked his teammate "who are those guys?" and his mate replied "those are the guys we just beat". Compare it to some of today's players. Just sad.

 

[vanthaman]

You mean Edgar David's team? They were average before he joined

 

[Revan]

A funny story I heard about Mane Garrincha, I think from an interview of one of his old teammates - he spoke of how they had just thrashed a team in the World Cup, perhaps USSR but I don't remember, & then they were in the airport shortly after that. The Brasil team saw a group of dejected-looking, tired men in track suits. Garrincha asked his teammate "who are those guys?" and his mate replied "those are the guys we just beat". Compare it to some of today's players. Just sad.

He was either a total ignorant, or he didn't care much about football outside of the football pitch. I remember reading some times ago, that after Brazil won the final of World Cup on 1958, the player were celebrating on the pitch and Garrincha asked a teammate why they were celebrating, cause he didn't know that they just won the World Cup because he thought that like in leagues, you have to play all teams twice, which means that he didn't know that it was the final.

Pretty amazing stuff, impossible to happen in today's football. From what I have seen of him, Ronaldinho is as close as you can get to Garrincha. Not a machine in the type of Ronaldo and Messi but much more entertaining than any other player I have seen in last decade. He also had the standard Brazilian off the pitch problems (going into parties in late nights).

 

[Moby]

He was either a total ignorant, or he didn't care much about football outside of the football pitch. I remember reading some times ago, that after Brazil won the final of World Cup on 1958, the player were celebrating on the pitch and Garrincha asked a teammate why they were celebrating, cause he didn't know that they just won the World Cup because he thought that like in leagues, you have to play all teams twice, which means that he didn't know that it was the final.

Pretty amazing stuff, impossible to happen in today's football. From what I have seen of him, Ronaldinho is as close as you can get to Garrincha. Not a machine in the type of Ronaldo and Messi but much more entertaining than any other player I have seen in last decade. He also had the standard Brazilian off the pitch problems (going into parties in late nights).

Think that was after a group game which was also his debut for Brazil, not the final. Vaguely remember that anecdote from something i read a long time back.

 

[Cantona'sCollar]

He was either a total ignorant, or he didn't care much about football outside of the football pitch. I remember reading some times ago, that after Brazil won the final of World Cup on 1958, the player were celebrating on the pitch and Garrincha asked a teammate why they were celebrating, cause he didn't know that they just won the World Cup because he thought that like in leagues, you have to play all teams twice, which means that he didn't know that it was the final.

Pretty amazing stuff, impossible to happen in today's football. From what I have seen of him, Ronaldinho is as close as you can get to Garrincha. Not a machine in the type of Ronaldo and Messi but much more entertaining than any other player I have seen in last decade. He also had the standard Brazilian off the pitch problems (going into parties in late nights).

For sure, it's well documented about how carefree he was, & it extended to everything in his life. Just amazing. It's quite nice that there was once a time when that could actually happen, though - back then, footballers were footballers and nothing more. The game now just doesn't have the same characters in it, it isn't as genuine.

And yeah, I get the impression that most Brasilians compare Ronaldinho to Garrincha moreso than any other player (even the likes of Rivelino and Zico, players who actually played in Ronaldinho's position) simply because they just wanted to play football. There's a video on the internet I can't find, where Garrincha leaves a defender on his ass, turns around, and does the same guy again. Very George Best-ish. Ronaldinho plays with no barrier or inhibitions, he goes out there and just enjoys himself, just like Garrincha did, and that combined with his God-given skill made him something that a hundred million people would tune in for every single week. It's just a shame that he shared Mane's penchant for the nightlife, as you mentioned. Who knows what heights they both could have hit, they both were finished before they even got started, really. Shame.

 

[Revan]

Think that was after a group game which was also his debut for Brazil, not the final. Vaguely remember that anecdote from something i read a long time back.

It could be, I read it a long time ago and things many times go hyperbole anyway.

 

[Revan]

Holy crap, has anybody seen this:

 

[TheHorse'sMouth]

Probably the most gifted player ever

 

[matbezlima]

Bizarre. Nobody is really arguing that they are better than Messi's Barca. Just more entertaining. Your post makes no sense at all - I made this thread to talk about one of my favorite sides - the current Barcelona will hardly be trembling after winning the league with a record points total and reaching the CL semi final..

Don't derail the thread.

The only way that Barcelona of Ronaldinho could have been better and more entertaining than Guardiola's Barcelona was Ronaldinho himself. Collectively, the beauty, domination and quality of Guardiola's team was incomparably tough. The 5-0 against Real in 2010 was such a wonderful match, probably the greatest football performance ever seen!