And 2 ballon d'ors. And 2 golden boots.
And several trophies. And several international player of the tournament awards.
And several trophies. And several international player of the tournament awards.
Ronaldo is a World Cup short of being better than Messi
- Thread starter The Oracle
- Start date
Alright, I'll start muting people now who make threads about Ronaldo or Messi, stop spamming the site for fecks sake.
Fantastic summary.
Yeah. It's not even close now. And I'm on Ronnie's camp ussually
This post is a real slap in the face of CONCACAF.
There is no objective argument to even make for Ronaldo anymore. They could at least point to Messi's 'failures' with Argentina before, but no longer.
The gap is pretty clear.
Messi has always been the better footballer, but is now the greater one unequivocally too.
The gap is pretty clear.
Messi has always been the better footballer, but is now the greater one unequivocally too.
Ronaldo was never "better" than Messi. Messi is simply the better footballer by almost every statistical and eye test metric. Now greatness, Messi is now way ahead with this. This is what he needed. Also doesnt help that Ronaldo is finished 
In the biggest stage a footballer can play in, Messi turned up and he has now been the best player in every international tournament he has played in.
Meanwhile PR7 has 0 goal contributions in the knockout stage
In the biggest stage a footballer can play in, Messi turned up and he has now been the best player in every international tournament he has played in.Meanwhile PR7 has 0 goal contributions in the knockout stage
I mean he HAS won the Nations League and the Euros. Which does consist of the best teams in the world that have won the WC almost everytime. Copa America doesn't mean much. Just 2 big teams in Argentina and Brazil that fail to win it every year. Doesn't discredit those wins. But yeah the WC is the more prestige trophy.
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a lot of you are quick to poo poo the most important metric of all; number of goals scored for portugal. from my count, messi hasn’t even registered.
Yeah that's almost hard to believeRonaldo was never "better" than Messi. Messi is simply the better footballer by almost every statistical and eye test metric. Now greatness, Messi is now way ahead with this. This is what he needed. Also doesnt help that Ronaldo is finished
Meanwhile PR7 has 0 goal contributions in the knockout stage
how do you manage to not contribute anything in all the tournaments he participated in.It’s admission may as well have been intentional. I’d watch the Asia cup over CONCACAF any day.
Albeit it is steadily improving but still miles off in entertainment or ability and prestige.
Firstly, Cristiano was never as good a footballer as Messi, not even close. As good a goalscorer, yes.
Secondly if you talk about careers, Ronaldo has had a great career but so has Modric, Benzema and other Madrid footballers. The argument that he has done it in different leagues is the most idiotic one:
For a start, Cristiano played for Ferguson's Man utd, not Tottenham. A Man utd team that were successful even after he left.
In Spain, he played for Real Madrid, not Atletico Madrid. He played with some of the best players in their position. 2 of them are ballond'or winners. He won 2 league titles in 9 seasons and was player of the season only once.
In Italy, he played for Juventus, not Lazio. Juve were by far the top team in the country. He did not improve them at all.
For me the combination of being easily a lesser player plus similar level of success to Messi, put him below Messi even before the World Cup this year.
Ignore all accolades, watch them both play and it is not even a debate who the better player is/was.
It was never even up for debate but Ronaldo's insanely high output made people compare the two. However, we're now seeing that Top class players playing for these super teams can put up Ronaldo like numbers easily( Haaland, Mbappe etc.) so his legacy will only diminish as the time passes. He's probably the first of these ultra productive players where Messi was genuinely out of this world and he scored his insane number of goals without being obsessed with the stats.
So you're not a United fan then
Another god damn bastard Messi v Ronaldo thread.
I mean we won two league titles, a league cup, and lost a CL final over the next couple of years.
We were still winners and contenders in the immediate years after Ronaldo. It was Ferguson leaving that killed us, not Ronaldo.
That's precisely what I think. It's like in Hollywood movie. Two competitors and within couple of moths completely different outcome - one is on top of the world and the other is completely lost, unhinged and forgotten.
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both have well documented success in club game but have somewhat struggled to replicate that at international level (for a variety of reasons out of their control). One thing that is in Messi's favour are a string of tournaments he has starred in, even if he hasn't won. These are the 2014 World Cup golden ball (contentious yes, but was still very good in the tournament), 2015 Copa America best player, 2021 Copa America best player and finally 2022 World Cup golden ball (deserved imo).
When looking at Ronaldo's international career, it's really hard to judge what have been his standout moments. Euro 2016, whilst he was Portugal's top goalscorer, putting his tournament performance into context, it would be a stretch to argue he was driving force for that team throughout the tournament and unfortunately was injured in the final, so was robbed of the opportunity to do it on the big stage. 2012 Euros Ronaldo was good, but the decision to demand to take the 5th pen in the semi final shoutout v Spain in my opinion was inexplicable. Other tournaments like 2006 WC, 2008 Euro, 2010 WC, 2014 WC, 2018 WC, 2020 Euro and 2022 WC have all been pretty average or below par for Cristiano, especially the latest World Cup where he's been particularly bad.
In my opinion his best tournament was the 2004 Euros. Ronaldo was electric throughout the tournament and considering he was 19, it was definitely one of the best performances I've seen by a teenager at a major international tournament in my lifetime, probably only matched/surpassed by Rooney in the same tournament or Mbappe in 2018.
Other than that though:
When looking at Ronaldo's international career, it's really hard to judge what have been his standout moments. Euro 2016, whilst he was Portugal's top goalscorer, putting his tournament performance into context, it would be a stretch to argue he was driving force for that team throughout the tournament and unfortunately was injured in the final, so was robbed of the opportunity to do it on the big stage. 2012 Euros Ronaldo was good, but the decision to demand to take the 5th pen in the semi final shoutout v Spain in my opinion was inexplicable. Other tournaments like 2006 WC, 2008 Euro, 2010 WC, 2014 WC, 2018 WC, 2020 Euro and 2022 WC have all been pretty average or below par for Cristiano, especially the latest World Cup where he's been particularly bad.
In my opinion his best tournament was the 2004 Euros. Ronaldo was electric throughout the tournament and considering he was 19, it was definitely one of the best performances I've seen by a teenager at a major international tournament in my lifetime, probably only matched/surpassed by Rooney in the same tournament or Mbappe in 2018.
Other than that though:
- It's very difficult to pick definitive moment Ronaldo has shined throughout a tournament. I think it really up for debate.
- Just going through Messi's and Ronaldo's international career, I think it's pretty clear who has had the bigger impact on the international stage (Messi). Obviously, there's a debate to be had between the quality of Argentinian players and Portuguese players that Messi and Ronaldo had with them in their careers. Personally, I think the quality has been quite even.
2026 Will be Ronaldos time
2016, I guess? Although you can argue that he was actually better all the way back in 2004. If we’re talking about the moment, it’s probably the hat-trick against Spain in the group (as for the best game — maybe Sweden in qualification play-offs?).
Anyway, the answer to the second one is easier — unfavourably.
I hate to break it to you but Ronaldo is not even the best Ronaldo and he's not even the best Portuguese player.
Probably the greatest scorer though.
Probably the greatest scorer though.
Stupid posts like this are the exact reason debating the two in this forum is pointless.
Eusebio has a good argument to being at least equal to CR7, no? His 1966 World Cup performance certainly usurps any individual tournament Ronaldo has had?
Dependes on the game, and the football is dire for the most part, and i am southamerican, even the level is low currently.
Also the game with the most violent attitude in an international tournament it's a european game between Netherlands and Portugal in WC 2006, lot of yellows and red cards.
Surely, but Eusebio at club level isn't close to Ronaldo at all.
If you are playing in a World Cup knockout game and you want one player from any point in history to get you a winning goal, I think you take CR7. lol
I can't tell if this is a sarcastic jibe at Ronaldo or not but in case it isn't, Ronaldo has never scored a goal in a World Cup knockout game.
Meanwhile Messi has scored in every round of a World Cup in just this World Cup. Let alone any other player from history who actually managed to score goals in World Cup knockout games.
Ronnie is going to have to work this out with his own ego. Football history is written in tournaments and confirmed by trophies. Legends exist within those pages. Messi has drawn a line under this particular rivalry. There’s only one way that this is going to remembered.
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Eusebio scored 733 goals in 745 matches, 473 goals in 440 games for Benfica the only argument you can make for him is lack of European cups, but it’s a team game also, I don’t think he played with 3 B’allon d’or winners either.
Infact I am.
now you see the white text
......dammit.now you see the white text
Never seen a tear drop that big before.
Honestly speaking, you cannot seperate Ronaldo or any forward from his goals and you simply can't ignore his achievements, individual or collective at club level OR his longevity. He is one of the greatest to play and in my opinion the greatest Portuguese footballer ever.
However, he is not THE greatest ever or even of his generation like his fans would have you believe even before Qatar 2022. The excuse his fanboys give is about doing it in different leagues which is nonsense if you scratch the surface.
I gave the edge to Messi over Ronaldo several years ago, so nothing today really changes between those two. But anyone who wishes to do look into the matter more deeply will come across the name Pele, who was better than either Messi or Ronaldo. Not by miles, but by enough.
Silly post. He won't be at the 2026 fifa world cup. Therefore he won't win. Absolute nonsense saying that.
Who remembers this bit from the interview? him and Messi in the WC final, Ronaldo scores the winner "I would retire from football"