10 - Lionel Messi - v5

[Ritchie]

I really dot like this Barca fad of trying to feed Messi just that he could score in these kind of matches. Just play your natural game ffs. He has become too much of an idol/mascot for his teammates and that's not healthy for overall team play.
(though i also hope in superstitious manner that his failure to score against Depor will result up in goal galore at Bernaleo)

His team mates just aren't good enough.

 

[Barcaman]

Feed him? Haven't seen that besides few occasions per season. There was Neymar who probably overdid it though.
It's mostly Messi who is singlehandedly feeding everyone else.

 

[El Flaco]

Credit to [MENTION=12859]Alik[/MENTION] for the translation.

Journalist: To you, are Messi and Ronaldo the same or is one better than the other?

Torres: I think they are very different kinds of players. It's a matter of opinion. I have never seen a player like Messi in my life (and I don't think I ever will). I think that in all aspects he dominates. That doesn't mean that he is the best at everything, but that he is surely the best at 90% of things... and he has been so for so many years.

But what Cristiano has done is also incredible. To achieve what he is achieving during Messi's era speaks volumes about him. I think that he is a player that we should admire for the things that he is doing in the football field during Messi's era. Perhaps if he lived in another era, Messi would now have twice the awards that he currently has. That seems like an incredible thing to say. So I think that one should also give Ronaldo merit.

However, if you ask me who is the better player, I will say Messi is the best and that I have never seen a player like him and I doubt that I will.

 

[raskolnikov]

Ronaldo’s legacy is boosted up so much because of jourbalists pushing the messi vs ronaldo rivalry.
Everyone that has ever watched one match knows they only compare in goalscoring statistics. Besides that it isnt even close. Hell, Neymar is closer at this point and a guy like Iniesta was a better footballer as well.
Its like conparing inzaghi to fenomeno if they had similair stats.

 

[JamDav1982]

Ronaldo’s legacy is boosted up so much because of jourbalists pushing the messi vs ronaldo rivalry.
Everyone that has ever watched one match knows they only compare in goalscoring statistics. Besides that it isnt even close. Hell, Neymar is closer at this point and a guy like Iniesta was a better footballer as well.
Its like conparing inzaghi to fenomeno if they had similair stats.

Ronaldo has clearly been the second best player in the world across the past ten years or so as a whole and one of top ten ever maybe lower.

Barca fans who try to play him down as some goal poacher just come across as ignorant or bitter.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Ronaldo has clearly been the second best player in the world across the past ten years or so as a whole and one of top ten ever maybe lower.

Barca fans who try to play him down as some goal poacher just come across as ignorant or bitter.

If stats were everyting Ronaldo would be great, but they are not. It's game played on field and football is so much more than just scoring goals. Messi brings more to table and is true team player.

 

[messi15478]

Ronaldo’s legacy is boosted up so much because of jourbalists pushing the messi vs ronaldo rivalry.
Everyone that has ever watched one match knows they only compare in goalscoring statistics. Besides that it isnt even close. Hell, Neymar is closer at this point and a guy like Iniesta was a better footballer as well.
Its like conparing inzaghi to fenomeno if they had similair stats.

If you look at Cr7 in 2007-2014 you will realize how great he was in every aspect of football like dribbling, creating chances, ball-off movement etc.
done
So if you look the period of 2007 till 2017 you can clearly say that he was by far the second best player in the world and in my opinion top ten of all time. People only look how he plays now and say that he is a goal poacher like Gerd Müller. Müller was his whole career a goal poacher but Ronaldo since 2 two years. Ronaldo developed his playing into a goal scoring machine. If you are able to score 10 goals against Bayern, Ateltico Madrid and Juventus Turin in the Champions League at the age of 32 you have done everything right.
By the way Ronaldo is Real Madrids top assist maker for Real Madrid.

 

[JamDav1982]

If stats were everyting Ronaldo would be great, but they are not. It's game played on field and football is so much more than just scoring goals. Messi brings more to table and is true team player.

Messi has been the better player. Hence why saying Ronaldo clearly been second best.

Ronaldo is great. Madness how hard people try to deny that. For such a great player and Messi still to have been the better player is all credit to Messi.

 

[raskolnikov]

Ronaldo has clearly been the second best player in the world across the past ten years or so as a whole and one of top ten ever maybe lower.

Barca fans who try to play him down as some goal poacher just come across as ignorant or bitter.

I do consider him the second best player over the last decade to be honest but its more due to longetivity and consistency than skills. I honestly consider Iniesta a better football player. Many have been a better player. We all know he is more of a trained product than prodigy.
For the last few years he has been a poacher and carried by his teams rather than leading them. Even in his prime he was never consistently close to Messi. He would be for a month here and there but overall was cleary way inferior. Im not trying to downplay the guy either just consider Messi to be way above everyone. Only player I have ever seen that was on that level was Ronaldo when he played for us and inter bedore his injury. Ronaldo pre a d post injury is another good example in quality gap when applied to messi and cr7.
Dont let media/pr hype fool you and revisionism cloud your judgement.

 

[raskolnikov]

If you look at Cr7 in 2007-2014 you will realize how great he was in every aspect of football like dribbling, creating chances, ball-off movement etc.
done
So if you look the period of 2007 till 2017 you can clearly say that he was by far the second best player in the world and in my opinion top ten of all time. People only look how he plays now and say that he is a goal poacher like Gerd Müller. Müller was his whole career a goal poacher but Ronaldo since 2 two years. Ronaldo developed his playing into a goal scoring machine. If you are able to score 10 goals against Bayern, Ateltico Madrid and Juventus Turin in the Champions League at the age of 32 you have done everything right.
By the way Ronaldo is Real Madrids top assist maker for Real Madrid.

Assist mean fuck all to be honest. How many of those are crosses, lay ofs or failed shots that got scored? His playmaking ability has been mediocre or even weak compared to players like Xavi, Iniesta, Ozil, Pirlo or Kroos and Neymar at this point. Its bot his job either but dont let revisionism make the guy bigger than he was in that aspect.

Same goes for dribbling. People who didnt watch him at United look at a highlight reel on youtube and act like he was a quality dribbler.

In reality it was countless stepovers followed by either a sidepass, failed trick, cross or dive. 9/10 it failed afger which Fergie and his team mates got pissed off. It was showboating to get on the motd highlight reel (view everything from a narcisist perspective) in the jogo bonito dinho era.
After that he figured out he could get more attention by goalscoring so he made good use of his superior off the ball movement and the dribbling faded. His transition when his legs went deserves praise as well.

But donr make the guy out to be a dinho, fenomeno, Messi, maradona or even hazard level dribbler since that was never the case.
Its been hard work, consistency, off the ball movement, heading, conditioning, motivation and never being injured that makes him the second best player of that era. Not playmaking,freekicks, dribbling or being strong. He was never more than mediocre (note, not terrible) in those aspects.
Thats the revisionism because of the media fueled rivalry playing tricks on your mind.

 

[Hardy]

Ronaldo mediocre in freekicks and dribbling when he was in Manchester? dude stop it

We all know that Messi is clearly a better player than Cristiano but there is no need to understimate his skills in a such pathetic way like madness comparision with Pippo freaking Inzaghi, even in his worst days it's disrespectful compare Cristiano to that REAL poacher.

 

[BBZ8800]

I do consider him the second best player over the last decade to be honest but its more due to longetivity and consistency than skills. I honestly consider Iniesta a better football player.

Sorry, but what does this even mean?

Iniesta was a better football player?
Better in terms of what? Creating, dictating a play from midfield?
Well, probably yes.

But again, goals, assists, 10 of other factors which exist in football, being in right place in the right moment, scoring 100s of decisive goals or goals in the last minute, being a lucky charm of all teams where he played (no matter how much we don't like to say that).

Also, imo, CR7's world class career was way longer than Iniesta's.
Cr7 was an international hit and fan's favorite from his first day at Man Utd 2003, aged 18 (I used to like him a lot back then, he was a pure fan. Btw. Messi hasn't "existed" back then, we didn't know that Messi will come one day. Cr7 and Ronaldinho were by far the two most entertaining players). So, Cr7 is influental and on top from 2003 till today, that is 15 seasons.
While Iniesta was a squad player more or less until Pep. And in the last 2-3 years, Iniesta is a shadow of himself.
No offense to Iniesta, but he was a world class "only" during Pep and during Xavi-Iniesta-Messi prime.
His true magic/prime lasted only 6-7 years imo.
And even today, post-prime CR7 is way better and way more influental than post-prime Iniesta.

In the end, we love Barca, we love Iniesta, but to be honest, when you sum their careers, CR7 lasted way longer and was just a more influential all round player.

 

[Ripsta]

In the last 10 years, Robben was the 2nd most talented after Messi, just far too injury prone.

In the last 20 years, Henry, Ronaldinho, Zidane and Ronaldo piss all over Cristiano in terms of god given ability.

What keeps Cristiano ahead of them is a media fueled comparison with Messi and the fact he has plundered so many goals with Real Madrid and contributed to those trophies.

IMO, we can only blame ourselves (or the cunts running the Club), for allowing Real Madrid to claw back the bragging rights after the brilliance groundwork Pep laid down.

 

[henias]

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION] Iniesta is just not a very physical player and he has stamina and injury problems every now and then. It is no doubt Ronaldo would have lasted longer due to his physique and height that would allow him to continue as a poacher in recent years, even though he lost his dribbling. In terms of technical brilliance, Iniesta is still one of the best and Ronaldo is not even near. In 2014/15, he played a very vital role alongside Messi but as the seasons go on Barcelona lack midfielders that can aid Iniesta in terms of workrate and ball possession, the departure of Xavi did leave him quite isolated in the midfield.

U cant compare Iniesta to Ronaldo, both completely different player but I still rate football brains higher than brawns. I just find it more rare by the fact that very little modern midfielders can replicate what Xavi-Iniesta-Messi can do. It's almost one in a million. Ronaldo is lucky he is in a world class team as of now, without them, he can never carry a club properly.

 

[raskolnikov]

Ronaldo mediocre in freekicks and dribbling when he was in Manchester? dude stop it

We all know that Messi is clearly a better player than Cristiano but there is no need to understimate his skills in a such pathetic way like madness comparision with Pippo freaking Inzaghi, even in his worst days it's disrespectful compare Cristiano to that REAL poacher.

Yes his dribbling was mediocre at best. I will stick by that. Just step overs and quick running. His freekicks were good at united and his first season at real after that he has been terrible at it. Same goes for roberto carlos for example since revisionism has labled him a specialist due to that banana goal vs France.
Over his whole career he cant be labled a free kick specialist and was sn overrated dribbler at United.
Turned into hyper inzaghi (invisible but score) in big games to every match in recent years to almost every match nowadays. Can also be gerd muller if you like that better than inzaghi by the way.
Thats the problem with revisionism. People act like he was a playmaker and dribbler like messi due to assist stats and highlight reels.