10 - Lionel Messi - v3

[Hamzah]

I watched a programme and they analysed ronaldos sprints. He lost to a mediocre sprinter and his technique was bad.

The best sprinter is gareth bale.

Ronaldo is fast but his best physical ability is his jump iMO.

 

[Morten]

I obviously mean how physically gifted he is. If Ronaldos passion was 100m sprint for instance, and he dedicated his life to that sport instead, I'm pretty sure he could be among the worlds best.

It's an impossible discussion of course as we can't know, but I'm using it as an example of how rare his physical form is. Very few football players have performed at that physical level at 30 years of age, seemingly not losing any pace, jumping height etc.

There is one thing very flawed here, he is not black. Im not even joking, black people totally dominate sprints/running in general, so naturally, Ronaldo would be chanceless.

 

[Kohe321]

You are overrating Ronaldo a lot.

I don't think I am, but I'm not surprised if I get a lot of opinions like that in here. As a physical athlete he's absolute top level in my opinion.

But let's focus on something we can agree on, and which my point of the original post was: he's a lot more athletic than Messi, and is showing a lot less fatigue at this point in the season than Messi is after having exerted himself at least as much this whole season.

And please don't misinterpret this praise of Ronaldo to mean that I'm a fan of him. Messi is my favorite player of all time, I love the guy.

 

[Kohe321]

I watched a programme and they analysed ronaldos sprints. He lost to a mediocre sprinter and his technique was bad.

The best sprinter is gareth bale.

Ronaldo is fast but his best physical ability is his jump iMO.

I've seen that as well. Completely irrelevant, because Ronaldo is not a sprinter. His technique, which takes years to develop, is completely off and suited for football. My scenario was if he dedicated his life to that sport.

 

[Hamzah]

Of course he is more athletic than messi, whose stamina is terrible.

Messi does have better acceleration in small spaces, agility and balance though.

 

[Kohe321]

Of course he is more athletic than messi, whose stamina is terrible.

Messi does have better acceleration in small spaces, agility and balance though.

Yeah and I agree with all of that. My point is simply that it sucks for us that Messi is so tired as he is now, as he's looking as exhausted as he did at the end of the WC, but instead of getting a vacation we're in the home stretch of an intense season, and Messi is probably not willing to rest in any game until the end.

Which is the reason I am so incredibly glad that Lucho and his team are monitoring the physical exertion of our players and managing it accordingly. So far they have done an absolute stellar job of keeping the team fresh and injury free. Busquets and Albas injuries were out of their control, as Busquets was tackled badly and Alba ran like his life depended on it against Ukraine.

So I'm optimistic that they have a plan on how to keep Messi as fresh as possible for the rest of the season. The team is resting today for instance, and tomorrow there's a normal training day with tactical practice before the Espanyol game. I hope Messi is taking advantage of his day off and gets some rest with his family. I'm sure he does.

 

[raskolnikov]

I want to see numbers that confirm exactly that if you don't mind. Ronaldo might run a bit more (a longer distance) on average each game but the difference should be negligible.

That's not correct. Ronaldo has had countless of games where he was not involved much and where he did not run much.

Football is not athletics. The best players in football history where never comparable to 100 metres sprinters.

Doping might be present (don't know) but it's unlikely to be such a big issue as you make it out to be. We would have known it by then if that was the case. Matchfixing is hardly news though and it has been covered for years. It mostly occurs in inferior leagues. You don't really see it often in the biggest of European leagues.



You are overrating Ronaldo a lot.

Look at these cl stats:

Ronaldo distance covered: 95374km
Messi distance covered: 82248

Almost everyone runs more than Messi, also does Ronaldo ever looks gassed to you like Messi?
He may run less than some players but he is among those with most minutes played in Europe each season.

Ronaldo being invisible Inzaghi mode in several games is more due to his style rather than being lazy/tired.

Doping and matchfixing are very present, its just kept quiet due to the money involved, news like that would hurt the sport greatly.

Remember Zagreb vs Lyon a few seasons ago? pure matchfixing, or even that linesman back when we lost against Malaga?

on doping:

Or as the Austrian doping doctor Stefan Matschiner explains


It’s completely obvious that, if in the 80th or the 85th minute you have the same coordination abilities as in the 3rd minute, because you’ve been treated with substances that improve the oxygen rates in your blood, then you have an advantage against your opponents.

This one applies to several players, including Ronaldo for example.

Doping is just as much a problem in football as it is in tennis, athletics, swimming and cycling. It’s part of daily life. I’ve worked with footballers. They use Testosterone, EPO, Ephedrine and Stimulants.

~ Stefan Matschiner

Recently, Joey Barton expressed his surprise:


My personal experience of drugs tests, as a professional athlete, is that they have only ever taken a urine sample from me. Only urine, in numerous tests over 10+ years of competing at elite level sport. Seems strange to me after reading about cycling’s procedures. Where they frequently test by taking blood from the athletes. Sometimes storing that blood for years. I have never had blood taken during my whole career!

the German legend Paul Breitner said it best in 2007, asking – Why would a footballer NOT use doping?


The footballer who believes that with doping he can keep his starting place, who can contribute more to victory, and can earn more money – why would he not use doping? The motivation to dope is the same for a footballer as it is for a cyclist.

Then you also have Juve on EPO, a lot of players getting caught and banned in early 00's like Davids, Pep and de Boer. Fuentes scandal of course goes without saying.

Its naive to assume our favourite players and other athletes are not roided.

 

[Ocelot]

When Ronaldo is not Running press/fans say he is still feeling his knee injury, when Messi is not running fans/media says he is not fit, he is eating badly & drinking coke

 

[anguy]

He should be resting for ALL NEXT 3 La Liga games. Yeah, it looks extreme but if we do it we win the treble. If we play him every game we might lose everything (except Copa). We don't need him in current form against Espanyol at all. With his current lack fitness he will be a liability, not asset. Give him a week of total rest (not even training and he shouldn't be even on the bench). He could play 30 minutes as sub against Cordoba.

 

[Morten]

He should be resting for ALL NEXT 3 La Liga games. Yeah, it looks extreme but if we do it we win the treble. If we play him every game we might lose everything (except Copa). We don't need him in current form against Espanyol at all. With his current lack fitness he will be a liability, not asset. Give him a week of total rest (not even training and he shouldn't be even on the bench). He could play 30 minutes as sub against Cordoba.

I really hope you do

 

[raskolnikov]

I watched a programme and they analysed ronaldos sprints. He lost to a mediocre sprinter and his technique was bad.

The best sprinter is gareth bale.

Ronaldo is fast but his best physical ability is his jump iMO.

Im sure he can dunk though

 

[Kohe321]

Im sure he can dunk though

Imagine if Ronaldos sport was basketball, a sport where you can do more things on your own, and his ego was allowed free expression in the NBA... He would quickly make Kobe seem like the most humble player in the league.

SIIUUUUU!

 

[Egert]

Imagine if Ronaldos sport was basketball, a sport where you can do more things on your own, and his ego was allowed free expression in the NBA... He would quickly make Kobe seem like the most humble player in the league.

SIIUUUUU indeed.

100p per game and Messi would be there with 6p per game Because he is small dude

 

[Kohe321]

100p per game and Messi would be there with 6p per game Because he is small dude

Messi would perfect the art of 3 pointers and become the all time top scorer there as well

 

[Morten]

100p per game and Messi would be there with 6p per game Because he is small dude

Obviously, i know nothing about basketball, but wouldnt there be room for a small agile player on the team? This is not the player who would dunk in points, but rather, a small, agile and quick player could more easily run through the lines with the ball and then deliver it to someone else?