Xela Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 As of now, Ronaldo. He is a machine. He's 30 in a few months and seems to be getting better! His form this year has been sensational. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Delph 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted December 12, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted December 12, 2014 Messi all day every day. If there was no Messi, then yes Ronaldo would be the one with all the scoring records, but he does it with a physical advantage over most players in terms of athleticism and power. Messi does it coming from a physical handicap with respect to most other players, he does it through invention, imagination, astounding technique and hard work. had argentina wona world cup with Messi there would be no debate at all IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) I'd have to disagree with the "physical handicap" bit. Being of a small stature provides a lower centre of gravity which in turn gives him an advantage in terms of dribbling and close control. If Messi was born over six foot, then he is nowhere near as strong in those particular attributes - it's as simple as that. Also, you say it like Cristiano's athleticism is purely via nature when he has worked as hard as anyone to reach that level. Edited December 12, 2014 by Isa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) Yeah, it's harder to dominate as a big player IMO. I wish I was shorter for football, it was certainly make the technical parts of the game much easier. Edited December 12, 2014 by kurtsimonw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frobisher Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Yeah, it's harder to dominate as a big player IMO. I wish I was shorter for football, it was certainly make the technical parts of the game much easier. Tell that to Yaya. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Yeah, it's harder to dominate as a big player IMO. I wish I was shorter for football, it was certainly make the technical parts of the game much easier. Tell that to Yaya. Eh, there's always going to be exceptions. But he's very much a highlights player IMO. Scores a decent amount but there's so many games he's basically a passenger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted December 12, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted December 12, 2014 I'd have to disagree with the "physical handicap" bit. Being of a small stature provides a lower centre of gravity which in turn gives him an advantage in terms of dribbling and close control. If Messi was born over six foot, then he is nowhere near as strong in those particular attributes - it's as simple as that. Also, you say it like Cristiano's athleticism is purely via nature when he has worked as hard as anyone to reach that level. Yeah you're right there, but today's game is overtly about power, explosive power and pace. I'm not saying Ronaldo hasn't worked hard, I'm sort of trying to get rid of the physical part of thegame to see who of the two is the better player? see what I mean? So much of what Ronaldo does relies on this, hardly anything of what Messi does is about him out muscling someone. It's all about quickness of thought and great technique and invention. Not that Ronaldo doesn't possess these qualities too, he's a special player, Messi is on another level though for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Ronaldo's form has been sensational and will deserve the Ballon D'Or again. Messi hasn't been as fit, I don't know whether he's on the decline or it's just that he went through a period of niggles, but he almost carried Argentina through that World Cup when he looked completely knackered. I don't think Ronaldo could have done that. I know he dragged Portugal to the World Cup with his hat trick and won the player of the year off the back of it, but somehow Messi has that extra bit of magic for me. If you were building the perfect footballer you'd build Ronaldo rather than Messi because of his height, but somehow Messi does things that is beyond my imagination. If you're going over their careers I'd choose Messi every day and he has 3 years on Ronaldo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Yeah you're right there, but today's game is overtly about power, explosive power and pace. I'm not saying Ronaldo hasn't worked hard, I'm sort of trying to get rid of the physical part of thegame to see who of the two is the better player? see what I mean? So much of what Ronaldo does relies on this, hardly anything of what Messi does is about him out muscling someone. It's all about quickness of thought and great technique and invention. Not that Ronaldo doesn't possess these qualities too, he's a special player, Messi is on another level though for me. Can't disagree. As per my initial post in this thread, Messi is the superior footballer. Ultimately though, this has to translate into superior end product. Messi still plays for a team that adheres to Cruyffist prinicples - which suits his profile perfectly. He must perform to a higher standard than Ronaldo to be considered the best again...in my opinion of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted December 12, 2014 Moderator Share Posted December 12, 2014 Get on YouTube and watch the Castrol documentary on Ronaldo. Think it's in 4 parts. Only when you've seen that will you really appreciate his quality and how hard he's worked to tune himself to be the ultimate football machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 2 more goals tonight for Ronnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 25 goals in 14 games in the league this season. Not. Bad. At. All. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I don't really like the World Cup argument. International football is really down to luck: luck in having the right batch of players at the right time, and hoping that no one else around has a better batch than you. Throughout their careers, Spain & Germany have been miles ahead of every other international team in terms of quality and strength in numbers. True but Maradona virtually won the world cup on his own! Yes sure the champions league is the highest quality competition but that doesn't take the importance away of doing well in a world cup finals. Winning a world cup should be the pinnacle of any player's career. If England won it it would be much more major than Chelsea or Man U winning a champions league! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 The talent is more evenly spread in the World Cup too. How many sides can win The Champions League this season? Four? Chances are the very best players in the world end up at one of those clubs who can win it, but still, I'm not sure the quality of opposition is as evenly spread as it is in a world cup. There are teams, I'll say Barca, Chelsea, Bayern and Real Madrid who will see the campaign as an utter failure if they don't make at least the semi finals. Everybody else is happy just to get that far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Messi still has less career league goals than Alan Shearer. I like that. He'll be above him within three weekends maximum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAZZAM Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Ronaldo is on a whole new level now 25 in 14 is staggering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-T Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 I don't get why so much emphasis is placed on the importance of winning a World Cup personally. That just favours players who happen to be born into stronger nations. Pelé won World Cups with a Brazil team that would've won without him anyway, as shown by the '62 victory. Whereas someone like Cristiano plays for a nation that simply isn't good enough to win it. He still plays for Portugal though who are considered to be a heavyweight in international football. It's not like he plays for Wales or Northern Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 I don't think Portugal are a heavyweight of world football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 (edited) They are certainly better than Northern Ireland and Wales. Ronaldo plays in a great side with great players, he gets loads of chances. I watched the game yesterday and it was so open Ronaldo could have scored 8. Ronaldo did nothing in the world cup! Thats why I am reticent to call Messi and Ronaldo the greatest ever. Take Maradona, he takes the world cup in 86 by the scruff of the neck and wins it on his own. That wasn't a good Argentina team. He turns Napoli into double Serie A winners, when they had done nothing before in their history. Sure Ronaldo and Messi break every goal scoring record around but they play in the best teams with the best players. Edited December 13, 2014 by PaulC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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