J
jiopi
Guest
Cronaldo underrated, great finisher? 
Good god.
Good god.Depends what people mean by underrated. If people are saying he (Cristiano) isn't top 30, then yeah he is being underrated. Anybody that says he's top 10 though is overrating him quite clearly, his resume pales laughably to the people that belong in that company.
The funny thing about his "rivalry" with Messi is that he is benefitting off hugely from being in Messi's shadow. People feel as though because he's no 2 behind Messi (I don't agree with this but that's another story*) he is "unlucky" and in many other era's he'll be the best player in the world.
This is also analogous to the Current Barca-Madrid rivalry, where I feel they are looked at higher in Europe because they are the no 2 team behind Barca in La liga (wrongly might I add), again though, that's another story.
Right, so let's stay on topic, what era(s) would Ronaldo be the best? I'll start from 1970
1970-1975? Well a superior version of Ronaldo, Gerd Muller was behind Cruyff and Beckenbauer in that era so no.
1976-1980? Perhaps, this was the Kevin keegan era so yes.
1981-1985? Platini era, Platini was a 1 in 2 goals player while also being one the greatest playmakers in European football, so nope!
1986-1990? Maradona's era, again nope.
1990-1995? Another relatively weak era with George weah, Maldini, Roberto Baggio, Laudrup, Stoichkov being the standouts. But with Maldini being in his prime here, would you honestly say Cristiano is clearly better in his position than Maldini was in his position? this is Maldini; one of the greatest defenders in history(in two positions mind you).
1996-2000? Ronaldo and Zidane era, no chance.
2000-2005? Henry era, ok he could take this one.
2006-2010? Ronaldinho at his peak was better in the earlier part of this era, Messi was better from 2008 onwards. He deserved his award in 2007 though, arguably in 2006 too.
2010-Present? The gap between him and Messi have widened and will probably continue to get wider.
Going back to 1970, he would probably be the best during 1976-1980 era and arguably the 1990-1995 era. Thats 2 out of 9 era's, the other 7 had better players. And I didn't even go back to the Di stefano, Eusebio, Pele, Garrinchia era. Where he also would be in the lower tier.
Basically, he should be thankful for being in Messi's shadow, because ironically,that is shielding him, in the sense that:
Messi is an all time great and Ronaldo is no 2 >>>> therefore Ronaldo is high up there on the all time list in the eyes of a consierable no of people.
*
I think Xavi is deserving of the accolade for being a better player than Ronaldo over the past 5 years. He is the common denominator between Spain 2008-2012 and Barca 2008-2012; two of the greatest sides in football. Not even Messi has that.
His 08/09 season is arguably the best of any CENTRAL midfielder in the history of the game . 30+ assists while absolutely dominating teams in every spectrum of quality; from tenerife to Manchester united, whether its with Messi (Barca), or without Messi(Spain).
His big game performances eclipses that of Ronaldo and he has also won a shit ton of more trophies than Ronaldo has in that period. I don't even think it's a controversial opinion with people that aren't casual football fans.
The funny thing about his "rivalry" with Messi is that he is benefitting off hugely from being in Messi's shadow. People feel as though because he's no 2 behind Messi (I don't agree with this but that's another story*) he is "unlucky" and in many other era's he'll be the best player in the world.
This is also analogous to the Current Barca-Madrid rivalry, where I feel they are looked at higher in Europe because they are the no 2 team behind Barca in La liga (wrongly might I add), again though, that's another story.
Right, so let's stay on topic, what era(s) would Ronaldo be the best? I'll start from 1970
1970-1975? Well a superior version of Ronaldo, Gerd Muller was behind Cruyff and Beckenbauer in that era so no.
1976-1980? Perhaps, this was the Kevin keegan era so yes.
1981-1985? Platini era, Platini was a 1 in 2 goals player while also being one the greatest playmakers in European football, so nope!
1986-1990? Maradona's era, again nope.
1990-1995? Another relatively weak era with George weah, Maldini, Roberto Baggio, Laudrup, Stoichkov being the standouts. But with Maldini being in his prime here, would you honestly say Cristiano is clearly better in his position than Maldini was in his position? this is Maldini; one of the greatest defenders in history(in two positions mind you).
1996-2000? Ronaldo and Zidane era, no chance.
2000-2005? Henry era, ok he could take this one.
2006-2010? Ronaldinho at his peak was better in the earlier part of this era, Messi was better from 2008 onwards. He deserved his award in 2007 though, arguably in 2006 too.
2010-Present? The gap between him and Messi have widened and will probably continue to get wider.
Going back to 1970, he would probably be the best during 1976-1980 era and arguably the 1990-1995 era. Thats 2 out of 9 era's, the other 7 had better players. And I didn't even go back to the Di stefano, Eusebio, Pele, Garrinchia era. Where he also would be in the lower tier.
Basically, he should be thankful for being in Messi's shadow, because ironically,that is shielding him, in the sense that:
Messi is an all time great and Ronaldo is no 2 >>>> therefore Ronaldo is high up there on the all time list in the eyes of a consierable no of people.
*
I think Xavi is deserving of the accolade for being a better player than Ronaldo over the past 5 years. He is the common denominator between Spain 2008-2012 and Barca 2008-2012; two of the greatest sides in football. Not even Messi has that.
His 08/09 season is arguably the best of any CENTRAL midfielder in the history of the game . 30+ assists while absolutely dominating teams in every spectrum of quality; from tenerife to Manchester united, whether its with Messi (Barca), or without Messi(Spain).
His big game performances eclipses that of Ronaldo and he has also won a shit ton of more trophies than Ronaldo has in that period. I don't even think it's a controversial opinion with people that aren't casual football fans.
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Gohan
Super Saiyan
Xavi is a legend no doubt, and he is one of the best midfielders ever! But in my book Ronaldo ends up in a higher place, why? I simply think he is the better footballer, we have to think objective. Cristiano is on a different level, Messi of course still being the better one. Ronaldo deserves credit. That is why it is also hard to compare a defender to an attacker, midfielder to an attacker etc.
That's fair, for me though. If I have to pick an all time 11, Xavi in his prime will be one of the first names on the teamsheet. C.Ronaldo is far down the pecking order for me.
As an example of what I'm saying,having Ronaldinho at his peak playing that inside left position over Ronaldo, with Messi playing right or centrally will make for a much stronger team in attack and midfield than with Ronaldo on the left.
Xavi (prime) on the other hand, there aren't many players you'll put in CM that will make any noticeable improvements, if any. The guy is, at worst, a top 3 in the history of the game at central midfield; arguably the most important position on the pitch.
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KhaledBarca
New member
Xavi and Iniesta are key players for club and country. They won it all [1WC, 2Euro, 3UCL].
There are a lot of forwards with better career goals/games ratio than CR. But, there's few midfielders that played at the level of Iniesta and Xavi, had great influence for club and country and won everything playing a major role.
There are a lot of forwards with better career goals/games ratio than CR. But, there's few midfielders that played at the level of Iniesta and Xavi, had great influence for club and country and won everything playing a major role.
KhaledBarca
New member
This, Xavi is one of the best in his position, in history. C.Ronaldo will never make an all-time lineup, there' at least 10-15 forwards ahead of him!
Gohan
Super Saiyan
Only forwards that I rate higher are Maradona, Pele and R9
Elite-BkD
New member
BarcaVillain
Member
History remembers exciting, all action players, most of which score a fair few goals. This is why Xavi may not get into this group among the casual football fans. People who know how difficult it is to make the game look simple like he does appreciate how good he really was/is.
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Gohan
Super Saiyan
Messi?
Won't bother listing more at the moment.
I was more like listing old retired footballers. Of course Messi is above Ronaldo! Jeez..
raskolnikov
Well-known member
Henry is above Ronaldo as well imo. Antonella is so hot by the way
footyfan
Calma, calma
I disagree, I think Ronaldo has surpassed Henry due to his phenomenal goal tally. I know it's easy to take it for granted because of the team he plays for but it truly is phenomenal to have 213 goals in 209 games, something that requires you to hit the ground running at your new club, especially if you have the weight of a 94 million euro transfer. A lot of players, maybe even Henry, could've been crushed by it.
raskolnikov
Well-known member
I don't disagree, I really get why people would value Cristiano over Henry. But since the guy is my favourite player and I have been a fanboy for more than a decade I personally would always rate him higher because he could do everything better than Cristiano except headers, could create chances as a forward while scoring a lot better than anyone beside Messi.
He had 5 seasons in England like Cristiano's one epic season, then joined possesive minded Barca to win prices, while given his style he would have been perfect for current Madrid.
Cristiano would not score 50+ at Barca either, im sure about that.
So even based on accomplishments I can accept people rate Ronaldo higher, but as an overall footballer I would always say Henry was better and more talented.
Elite-BkD
New member
Henry was definitely better and more talented for me. Until about two years ago Ronaldo was still a pretty bad choker, he is still hardly above average in that regard, and his overall play will never touch the level Henry was at. He definitely does not look like a special on any type of a regular basis when his team is genuinely struggling and getting outplayed.
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