Better teenager - Ronaldo
Better peak - Cristiano Ronaldo comfortably
Better career - Crtistiano Ronaldo comfortably
Better peak - Cristiano Ronaldo comfortably
Better career - Crtistiano Ronaldo comfortably
Ronaldo vs Ronaldo
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
I’ve rewatched games of R9 at his best and I simply don’t see what makes him more unplayable than CR7 at his absolute peak who was also winning games on his own. He was as much or even more a force of nature than R9.
I think the fact that the Brazilian did it as a teenager is what adds to the mystique and romanticism surrounding him. However, for me CR7 is hands down the better player and had 3x the career. The Brazilian is still a legend in his own right ofcourse, and one of the best ever.
I think the fact that the Brazilian did it as a teenager is what adds to the mystique and romanticism surrounding him. However, for me CR7 is hands down the better player and had 3x the career. The Brazilian is still a legend in his own right ofcourse, and one of the best ever.
You can't really think that Cristiano was a better dribbler at his peak than Ronaldo. Neither was he as fast as him or as strong. And I say that after having watched a 11/12 compilation of Cris just one or two weeks ago. Ronaldo was a freak in every aspect. Incredible ball control, probably the most explosive footballer ever, on par with the very best top speed wise and also able to outmuscle almost anyone. If you watch Ronaldo highlights, you just cqn't help thinking that nobody else in the history of football could pull this stuff off. That's not true for Cristiano, apart maybe from his all time great heading ability and the ridiculous long shots he had when he was young. But in most things, Ronaldo was simply more skillfull.
What Cristiano has above him though is decision making which is not surprising given that we are comparing a 18-22 with a 24-27 year old player. Still, that's not enough to close the gap during their peaks, IMO.
Cristiano's career trumps Ronaldo's of course but he just never burned as brightly as the Brazilian.
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It's a waste of time to split hairs when there's a in depth analysis of what I tried to say, with all kinds of statistics, just two or three posts above the one you quoted. I mean, what's even the point?
Even more importantly, he did it while his staunchest fans were teenagers themselves. Nostalgia is powerful.
The have the same name, and were both incredible footballers... but that's where the comparison ends. Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are the conversation.
Sir Alex on Cristiano: “I look back and see a young lad at 17 years of age when you came to United, how you’ve progressed as a human being and a fantastic sportsman. You’ve been a pleasure for me to have known, to work with and to see you progress.”
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Cristiano in 2004-2006 before he exploded was already comfortably a better player than R9 in the same period. Before 2004, R9 had only 6 seasons in the top european leagues, which he spent injured about half of it.
We’re comparing 7 years at the top level with what could easily be 20 years by the time Cristiano retires. And one year of R9 actually means half a year since he spent the other half injured.
People can talk about sports science evolving but R9 is only 7 years older than Cristiano, they aren’t generations apart. Or does Mbappe have a big sports science advantage because he’s 14 years younger than Cristiano? Their respective life styles are well documented and it’s obvious who was the better professional that did more to prevent injuries and increase their longevity.
Saying that Cristiano benefitted from playing with better teammates when R9 became as big of a legend as he is by playing in a Brazil shirt with Rivaldo and Ronaldinho either side of him is pretty funny. Look at Real Madrid again and tell me how easy it was to win Champions League titles for fun and score 50 a season.
We’re comparing 7 years at the top level with what could easily be 20 years by the time Cristiano retires. And one year of R9 actually means half a year since he spent the other half injured.
People can talk about sports science evolving but R9 is only 7 years older than Cristiano, they aren’t generations apart. Or does Mbappe have a big sports science advantage because he’s 14 years younger than Cristiano? Their respective life styles are well documented and it’s obvious who was the better professional that did more to prevent injuries and increase their longevity.
Saying that Cristiano benefitted from playing with better teammates when R9 became as big of a legend as he is by playing in a Brazil shirt with Rivaldo and Ronaldinho either side of him is pretty funny. Look at Real Madrid again and tell me how easy it was to win Champions League titles for fun and score 50 a season.
Cristiano Ronaldo, both categories, by far.
Ronaldo Nazario was better. I never saw something like that. I dont care if it was only for few years before his injures. If Maradona had a knee injury after 1986 wc, i would not change my opinion on him.
All that doesn't matter if we compare their peaks. Literally nobody is denying that Cristiano is heads and shoulders above Ronaldo in terms of longevity so you just wrote multiple paragraphs to prove a point everybody agrees on.
This is my sentiment too. Never seen anything like it. Only Messi is par for me.
Agreed. Only him and Messi have given me those feelings of 'holy shit this guy is unreal'. Not a slight on Cristiano though.
Cristiano has had three careers in one:
The tricky winger all about entertainment from his Sporting/early Man Utd days. The complete package of entertainment and efficiency from around 2007-2014. And finally moving more central and being more of a finisher rather than creator from 2015 onwards.
This is imo his strongest argument for the GOAT, who else can say they’ve reinvented themselves during their career and still remained the world’s best (or one of)? Never mind doing it twice.
The tricky winger all about entertainment from his Sporting/early Man Utd days. The complete package of entertainment and efficiency from around 2007-2014. And finally moving more central and being more of a finisher rather than creator from 2015 onwards.
This is imo his strongest argument for the GOAT, who else can say they’ve reinvented themselves during their career and still remained the world’s best (or one of)? Never mind doing it twice.
Clearly loads of people aren’t taking into consideration at all just how big of a gap there is in that regard in their overall opinions of them as players so how is that in any way irrelevant in a thread that’s literally made to compare them?
As for comparing their peaks, how can you properly compare their peaks when one’s peak lasted a lot longer than the other? Or does that not matter?
R9 was a great player that had one freak season. CR7 is a freak player that had one or two "just" great seasons.
R9 was simply not a better football player than CR7. Ill give him better dribbler and thats it.
R9 was simply not a better football player than CR7. Ill give him better dribbler and thats it.
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Real Ronaldo
I know you are biased to CR7 but come on, that is just a ridiculous load of rubbish.
What? I'm going to assume you misread what I wrote. I know you're biased against CR7 but that was just a fact. 2004 to 2007 even before Cristiano exploded, he was comfortably better than R9 in that time period when R9 was in his late 20s.
Not that's it's definitive proof of anything but Cristiano made it to the Ballon D'Or shortlist in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. R9 didn't in any of these years, he was nowhere near what he used to be in his prime by then and was regularly out injured.
Which high jumper had the better peak, Sotomayor who jumped 2.45 or someone who jumped 2.40 more times than him?
Let’s just say there’s a reason why you probably can’t name any other high jumper than Sotomayor.
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Not being funny. But what was/is CR7 peak? 2007-2018 can’t touch that.
Ronaldo Luis vs Cristiano Ronaldo
R9 vs CR7
Fat Ronaldo vs Sexy Ronaldo
Who in your opinion had the better peak? For me it is Ronaldo by a long way.
Who had the better career? Due to injuries, Cristiano probably edges it, the way I see it.
People take CR7 and Messi for granted. It annoys me now when pundits talk about other players and ask “are they in the CR7/Messi bracket” and the reply while “no” makes it seem easy that x player could easily get there or when they say x player has to have the stats of those two to be world class.
In over 100 years of football we have never seen players like those two, my bet is that once they are gone we won’t see anyone like them again. Players will get compared, players will have 2-3 season like them and people will put them in that bracket FOR A WHILE until they fail the test of time.
This. In terms of skill level, CR7 is not even close. R9 has pace, explosiveness, strength, insane dribbling in tight space, dribble with fast pace, shoot with both foot, he had them all.
That's essentially bullshit. In the last 100 years, there've been Pele, Müller, Zico, Puskas, Di Stefano, Eusebio, Bican and Romario who maintained similar stats to those two, just from the top of my head. Mbappe may end up with a similar goal record if he continues the way he does. It says a lot that few of these players are even in the best of all time debate. Goal records are the easieset way to compare Messi and Cristiano, that way you can make it seem like they are equals, so people are so used to look at scorers that they overlook that most players deemed the best of their generations didn't even score that much. But that also explains why you think Cristiano didn't have a peak. The CR7 of the last 4-5 years is nowhere near his peak level.
I read it correctly, no he wasn’t. 2007 yes, 2004-2006 no.
What? I'm going to assume you misread what I wrote. I know you're biased against CR7 but that was just a fact. 2004 to 2007 even before Cristiano exploded, he was comfortably better than R9 in that time period when R9 was in his late 20s.
Not that's it's definitive proof of anything but Cristiano made it to the Ballon D'Or shortlist in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. R9 didn't in any of these years, he was nowhere near what he used to be in his prime by then and was regularly out injured.
By the way, even though I am team Messi vs CR7, i still think CR7 is comfortably better than R9, at his peak and also his whole career, not including internationals.
You couldn't fault R9 the footballer before that injury. He was a more magical player however Cristiano just gets the job done. Its splitting hairs really but ive never seen an attacker posses the danger R9 possessed.
Romario spent two seasons at Barcelona.
Pele played in a league that even today isn’t taken too seriously. .
So yeah perhaps do your research instead of just naming random names off the top of your head.
Perhaps you should do some research. The Brazilian league back then is not what it is now, not even close. Money took over in Europe and thats when the Brazilian league deteriorated.
The Brazil international teams were the best in the world back then and pretty much all of the Brazilian national team played in Brazil.
It was on par with the European leagues, arguably better than some of what we now know as the ‘big 5 leagues’.
So is the player with the highest peak the one that scored the best goal ever? The one that had the best game ever? Or the one who had the best season ever?
Football isn't high jump, a player's peak has a time frame attached to it.
Dude, back then pretty much everyone from every national team played in their own countries national league. The few that didn’t were the exception.
He was though... and quite comfortably so too given R9's injury record in that time. Hence why Cristiano was getting nominated for awards ahead of him.
Your memory is tricking you.
You've obviously got no clue whatsoever.
So Romario spent more than 2 seasons at Barcelona?
And Brazil could field 3 different teams that would comfortably smash any other in the world. Pelé's Santos routinely smashed the best european teams around at the time and often they weren't even the best side in brazil. They absolutely pissed 3 world cups out of 4 in those years, and the one they didn't win was where their opponents broke out their "kick Pelé until he gets injured" strategy
Proper Ronaldo was breathtaking. Shame really.
Ronaldo was the better player at younger ages (teenager and later, around early twenties, until Cristiano exploded 2007), Cristiano had a slightly better peak and career wise is obviously much better.
The truth is for us 90s babies or earlier R9 is the biggest force of nature we've seen until Messi. He was so many great players rolled into one and was on course to being the greatest IMO.
But let's be honest Cristiano ranks ahead of him in all lists apart from the talent list. With R9 its a case of what if with Cristiano we've actually seen him dominate for over a decade. Many players had more talent than CR7 and were more graceful but his body of work guarantees he's Top 5 of all time.
But let's be honest Cristiano ranks ahead of him in all lists apart from the talent list. With R9 its a case of what if with Cristiano we've actually seen him dominate for over a decade. Many players had more talent than CR7 and were more graceful but his body of work guarantees he's Top 5 of all time.
Some of the posters on here have no clue whatsoever about football.
You still insist with rubbish about stats despite the fact that Zehner already gave the best arguments out there as to why those are irrelevant.
Let me break it down even further:
- back in the 90's Serie A it was a million times harder to score;
- the league was more balanced and most teams only had 1 star player; R9 wasn't even in the best team, his teammates are a joke compared to the ones CR7 has had.
- the defenders R9 faced are some of the best in the history of the sport.
Some have even talked absolute bollocks about CR7 being better at everything than R9, when it's the other way around. With the exception of heading the ball, R9 is superior in every possible way.
To conclude my post, if I was the manager of a team and my life depended on winning a game, and I could choose between the two, I'd go for R9 without thinking as much as a second.
You still insist with rubbish about stats despite the fact that Zehner already gave the best arguments out there as to why those are irrelevant.
Let me break it down even further:
- back in the 90's Serie A it was a million times harder to score;
- the league was more balanced and most teams only had 1 star player; R9 wasn't even in the best team, his teammates are a joke compared to the ones CR7 has had.
- the defenders R9 faced are some of the best in the history of the sport.
Some have even talked absolute bollocks about CR7 being better at everything than R9, when it's the other way around. With the exception of heading the ball, R9 is superior in every possible way.
To conclude my post, if I was the manager of a team and my life depended on winning a game, and I could choose between the two, I'd go for R9 without thinking as much as a second.
Millenials are so full of shit it's ridiculous. Fat Ronaldo was by far a better player than Pretty Boy, for fecks sake him and Ronaldinho were even better than Messi, same with Maradona heck even Romario was better Christiano. Difference was, back then they partied from Sunday to Friday trained a little during the weak often hungover, getting an infusion beforehand so they could only just stand up straight or went straight to the massage table instead. And on Saturday they pulled themselves together for one day and destroyed the opposition. Nobody gave a flying feck about Golden Boots or Ballon D'ors and the level of league competetion was much more even and a point average of 2,10+ won the league more often than not.
When you went up 1:0 or 2:0 that was enough, you could lean back and make plans for the night/week, teams had no interest in running up the scores. No need to accumulate ridiculous stats to bolster your self esteem. Good Times
When you went up 1:0 or 2:0 that was enough, you could lean back and make plans for the night/week, teams had no interest in running up the scores. No need to accumulate ridiculous stats to bolster your self esteem. Good Times
Teams win trophies, not individuals. If Messi played for Spurs today he probably wouldn't win anything but still be the best player in the world. He was the best player in the world by at least a tier in all those years.
Football was also different in those days as teams didn't hoard talent like today. No wonder the mega stars of today look much more normal on the international scene where you can't hoard talent added with the advantage of having transformational managers.
Cristiano just left his comfy surroundings of la liga where he played in a offensive juggernaut of a team in a league where defending is a second thought. Went to a league where he plays in a dominant team, not so much from an offensive standpoint and got outscored by Zapata or quagliera, something like that. Still the best player in the league though.
He wasn't promising or anything like that, he was a monster. Every Serie A fan will fell you his season in 98 was the best they've seen in that competition or amongst them. It wasnt his potential, it was what he was already. Virtually unplayable regardless of competition or teammates.
A non contest, C.Ronaldo is comfortably better, but I still rate Ronaldo 9 as the greatest number 9 in history at his best.