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Messi v Ronaldo rivalry

tototoner

Staying Alert
Mar 21, 2004
29,401
34,108
I'm not sure that the penalty last night, where Messi passed up the opportunity to get his 300th league goal so that Suarez could get a hat-trick is the proper definition of arrogance, but I'm sure the Ronaldo fanboys will find a way of making it so.

;-)


 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,181
48,812
Christ Messi is a gift to the world, he are lucky to have him.

For someone who has people fawning on him wherever he goes on the planet he seems remarkably grounded and humble.

So what if he got some bad advice on his taxes?
 

Spurslove

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2012
6,627
9,281
I've been watching professional football at all levels for the past 55 years. I've seen them all come and go. Cruyff, Zidane, Pele, Figo, Raul, Hoddle, Maldini, Seedorf.....and for me, Messi is the greatest of them all.

I watch Barcelona play week in week out and he makes me smile. He re-ignites the child like joy which sits deep within me which I've had ever since the day I watched Jimmy Greaves score his debut hat-trick for Tottenham against Blackpool back in 1961.

Many players have excited me down the years like those I've mentioned above (and others) but Messi is from another planet. A player we will all be saying for the rest of our lives that we were all priveleged to have been around to see him play.
 

Pellshek

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2015
2,532
7,334
I've long resisted putting either Ronaldo or Messi in the very top echelon of the game's greats.

I tend to the view that Pele and Maradona deserve their own category. Immortal, incomparable Gods. Cultural icons. On their own. On the next level down, tier 2, it should still be very tight criteria: it's not good enough to be technically good (sorry Zidane, Best and Ronaldinho.) You also need medals, longevity, consistency, international honours and all round class. So something like...

Tier 1:
Pele, Maradona

Tier 2:
Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Puskas, Charlton, Maldini, di Stefano, Platini, Eusebio

Tier 3:
Zidane, van Basten, Ronaldo, Best, Garrincha etc.

I'm sure you could argue it all day, but that's kinda how I see it.

Whither Ronaldo and Messi?

For me, Ronaldo should now unquestionably be Tier 2, if he wasn't already. He's now won as many or more medals than the others in that group, his scoring rate bests most of them, he's shown up in big games over & over & over, he's played at the very top for 14 straight years for a career total 719 club games and 139 Portugal games (!!! He's pushing 1,000 first class games! That is fucking insane. Since 2003, 35 is the fewest number of games he's played in a season, his first season at RM in '09/'10. Nuts.) He has a major international title.

Messi remains tier 3 for me. Has regularly gone missing in big games, and never really killed it at international level in an outstanding team. Doesn't quite have Ronaldo's range of skills; plays narrower, doesn't head the ball. Messi has played 100 fewer club games than Ronaldo, and 40 fewer internationals, with a lower strike rate in each. I can see daylight between the two's achievements now I think.

With Ronaldo, it may now be a question of whether Tier 1 needs expanding. Seems dirty and wrong to suggest anyone could match Pele and Maradona, but Ronaldo's statistics are so overwhelming that it might just be snobbery keeping him out of the top tier.


tl/dr: Ronaldo > Messi, and Ronaldo is very good.
 

yankspurs

Enic Out
Aug 22, 2013
41,941
71,359
I've long resisted putting either Ronaldo or Messi in the very top echelon of the game's greats.

I tend to the view that Pele and Maradona deserve their own category. Immortal, incomparable Gods. Cultural icons. On their own. On the next level down, tier 2, it should still be very tight criteria: it's not good enough to be technically good (sorry Zidane, Best and Ronaldinho.) You also need medals, longevity, consistency, international honours and all round class. So something like...

Tier 1:
Pele, Maradona

Tier 2:
Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Puskas, Charlton, Maldini, di Stefano, Platini, Eusebio

Tier 3:
Zidane, van Basten, Ronaldo, Best, Garrincha etc.

I'm sure you could argue it all day, but that's kinda how I see it.

Whither Ronaldo and Messi?

For me, Ronaldo should now unquestionably be Tier 2, if he wasn't already. He's now won as many or more medals than the others in that group, his scoring rate bests most of them, he's shown up in big games over & over & over, he's played at the very top for 14 straight years for a career total 719 club games and 139 Portugal games (!!! He's pushing 1,000 first class games! That is fucking insane. Since 2003, 35 is the fewest number of games he's played in a season, his first season at RM in '09/'10. Nuts.) He has a major international title.

Messi remains tier 3 for me. Has regularly gone missing in big games, and never really killed it at international level in an outstanding team. Doesn't quite have Ronaldo's range of skills; plays narrower, doesn't head the ball. Messi has played 100 fewer club games than Ronaldo, and 40 fewer internationals, with a lower strike rate in each. I can see daylight between the two's achievements now I think.

With Ronaldo, it may now be a question of whether Tier 1 needs expanding. Seems dirty and wrong to suggest anyone could match Pele and Maradona, but Ronaldo's statistics are so overwhelming that it might just be snobbery keeping him out of the top tier.


tl/dr: Ronaldo > Messi, and Ronaldo is very good.
Messi regularly goes missing in big games? Uhhhhhhh, what?
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
I've long resisted putting either Ronaldo or Messi in the very top echelon of the game's greats.

I tend to the view that Pele and Maradona deserve their own category. Immortal, incomparable Gods. Cultural icons. On their own. On the next level down, tier 2, it should still be very tight criteria: it's not good enough to be technically good (sorry Zidane, Best and Ronaldinho.) You also need medals, longevity, consistency, international honours and all round class. So something like...

Tier 1:
Pele, Maradona

Tier 2:
Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Puskas, Charlton, Maldini, di Stefano, Platini, Eusebio

Tier 3:
Zidane, van Basten, Ronaldo, Best, Garrincha etc.

I'm sure you could argue it all day, but that's kinda how I see it.

Whither Ronaldo and Messi?

For me, Ronaldo should now unquestionably be Tier 2, if he wasn't already. He's now won as many or more medals than the others in that group, his scoring rate bests most of them, he's shown up in big games over & over & over, he's played at the very top for 14 straight years for a career total 719 club games and 139 Portugal games (!!! He's pushing 1,000 first class games! That is fucking insane. Since 2003, 35 is the fewest number of games he's played in a season, his first season at RM in '09/'10. Nuts.) He has a major international title.

Messi remains tier 3 for me. Has regularly gone missing in big games, and never really killed it at international level in an outstanding team. Doesn't quite have Ronaldo's range of skills; plays narrower, doesn't head the ball. Messi has played 100 fewer club games than Ronaldo, and 40 fewer internationals, with a lower strike rate in each. I can see daylight between the two's achievements now I think.

With Ronaldo, it may now be a question of whether Tier 1 needs expanding. Seems dirty and wrong to suggest anyone could match Pele and Maradona, but Ronaldo's statistics are so overwhelming that it might just be snobbery keeping him out of the top tier.


tl/dr: Ronaldo > Messi, and Ronaldo is very good.

Messi goes missing in big games, what the hell?

Putting him tier 3 with the likes of Charlton and Platini ahead of him is just lol, sorry
 

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,340
20,192
Doesn't matter how scientific you try to make it sound, with tiers and so on, but it's still about opinions. And in my opinion, while Ronaldo is a truly exceptional player, Messi is even better. He not only scores at an insane rate that is even better than Ronaldo's, but he regularly does so from midfield where he also control games in ways that Ronaldo, with his 100% focus on scoring, simply cannot do.

Ronaldo is an uncanny scorer. His instinct, speed of reaction, sense of where the goal is and where the play is moving, are all sensational. But Messi is better. And it's not only his superior stats that say so.

If you are going to judge the world's best players you need to apply standards that don't apply to lesser players. And this is where Messi has the edge over Ronaldo: Messi, on top of exceeding Ronald's scoring rate is also a true team player. He constantly creates attacks, makes openings for other players, willingly and deliberately acts as a decoy, sends sublime passes from deep positions to other strikers to run on to and score from and sets up whole passages of play that only he could see: he does so many things that Ronaldo can't or doesn't do. And on top of all that, he consistently scores impossible goals of a quality no one I have ever seen, even including Maradona and Pele, would have been capable of.

In my opinion he is the best player of all time, or at least, the best I've ever seen.
 

barry

Bring me Messi
May 22, 2005
6,505
15,345
I've never understood this debate. Messi is in another league. If you watch football, rather than just read stats, I just can't fathom how any other conclusion can be drawn. I know football is about opinions but still. Messi probably is the goat.
 

Tottenham_God

Well-Known Member
Nov 6, 2011
2,940
5,619
I've never understood this debate. Messi is in another league. If you watch football, rather than just read stats, I just can't fathom how any other conclusion can be drawn. I know football is about opinions but still. Messi probably is the goat.
I'd pick Ronaldo before Messi.
 

Spurrific

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
13,501
57,356
I've long resisted putting either Ronaldo or Messi in the very top echelon of the game's greats.

I tend to the view that Pele and Maradona deserve their own category. Immortal, incomparable Gods. Cultural icons. On their own. On the next level down, tier 2, it should still be very tight criteria: it's not good enough to be technically good (sorry Zidane, Best and Ronaldinho.) You also need medals, longevity, consistency, international honours and all round class. So something like...

Tier 1:
Pele, Maradona

Tier 2:
Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Puskas, Charlton, Maldini, di Stefano, Platini, Eusebio

Tier 3:
Zidane, van Basten, Ronaldo, Best, Garrincha etc.

I'm sure you could argue it all day, but that's kinda how I see it.

Whither Ronaldo and Messi?

For me, Ronaldo should now unquestionably be Tier 2, if he wasn't already. He's now won as many or more medals than the others in that group, his scoring rate bests most of them, he's shown up in big games over & over & over, he's played at the very top for 14 straight years for a career total 719 club games and 139 Portugal games (!!! He's pushing 1,000 first class games! That is fucking insane. Since 2003, 35 is the fewest number of games he's played in a season, his first season at RM in '09/'10. Nuts.) He has a major international title.

Messi remains tier 3 for me. Has regularly gone missing in big games, and never really killed it at international level in an outstanding team. Doesn't quite have Ronaldo's range of skills; plays narrower, doesn't head the ball. Messi has played 100 fewer club games than Ronaldo, and 40 fewer internationals, with a lower strike rate in each. I can see daylight between the two's achievements now I think.

With Ronaldo, it may now be a question of whether Tier 1 needs expanding. Seems dirty and wrong to suggest anyone could match Pele and Maradona, but Ronaldo's statistics are so overwhelming that it might just be snobbery keeping him out of the top tier.


tl/dr: Ronaldo > Messi, and Ronaldo is very good.

In that odd tier structure you have put together. Zidane, Messi and Ronaldo would undoubtedly be in the top one.
 

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,340
20,192
Also, Messi's stats, which only show a part of the picture anyway, are better than Ronaldo's.

Messi: 565 goals in 700 appearances for club and country, excluding friendliest.

Ronaldo: 600 goals in 855.

Messi consistently scores more goals per game.

He's played fewer games because he's younger, yet he's only 35 goals behind despite being 2.5 years younger and having played 155 games fewer so far.

And that's just the stats...there's so much more to his game.
 

Spurrific

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
13,501
57,356
Bar heading what is he better at? If you took goal scoring out of it, Messi's worst game, would be one of Ronaldo's best. That's how good he is.

I agree Messi is the best, but you are doing Ronaldo a disservice.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
The other day you had people arguing that Messi wouldn't score as much as Kane in the Prem and now I'm hearing that Messi is tier 3, I just don't understand what people are watching.
 

barry

Bring me Messi
May 22, 2005
6,505
15,345
I agree Messi is the best, but you are doing Ronaldo a disservice.

Probably. I've just become a wee bit disappointed in Ronaldo. All he does now is goal hang and shoot on sight. I bet he's had the most shots in Europe. He could be so much more, I believe.
 

JerryGarcia

Dark star crashes...
May 18, 2006
8,694
16,028
I've long resisted putting either Ronaldo or Messi in the very top echelon of the game's greats.

I tend to the view that Pele and Maradona deserve their own category. Immortal, incomparable Gods. Cultural icons. On their own. On the next level down, tier 2, it should still be very tight criteria: it's not good enough to be technically good (sorry Zidane, Best and Ronaldinho.) You also need medals, longevity, consistency, international honours and all round class. So something like...

Tier 1:
Pele, Maradona

Tier 2:
Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Puskas, Charlton, Maldini, di Stefano, Platini, Eusebio

Tier 3:
Zidane, van Basten, Ronaldo, Best, Garrincha etc.

I'm sure you could argue it all day, but that's kinda how I see it.

Whither Ronaldo and Messi?

For me, Ronaldo should now unquestionably be Tier 2, if he wasn't already. He's now won as many or more medals than the others in that group, his scoring rate bests most of them, he's shown up in big games over & over & over, he's played at the very top for 14 straight years for a career total 719 club games and 139 Portugal games (!!! He's pushing 1,000 first class games! That is fucking insane. Since 2003, 35 is the fewest number of games he's played in a season, his first season at RM in '09/'10. Nuts.) He has a major international title.

Messi remains tier 3 for me. Has regularly gone missing in big games, and never really killed it at international level in an outstanding team. Doesn't quite have Ronaldo's range of skills; plays narrower, doesn't head the ball. Messi has played 100 fewer club games than Ronaldo, and 40 fewer internationals, with a lower strike rate in each. I can see daylight between the two's achievements now I think.

With Ronaldo, it may now be a question of whether Tier 1 needs expanding. Seems dirty and wrong to suggest anyone could match Pele and Maradona, but Ronaldo's statistics are so overwhelming that it might just be snobbery keeping him out of the top tier.


tl/dr: Ronaldo > Messi, and Ronaldo is very good.

Original Ronaldo has to be tier 2 at least. You should add Yaya Sonogo to tier 1 for the lols as well.
 
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