They are both amongst the greatest players of all time, but unlike the other greatest players of all time, neither Christiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi have played in or won a World Cup Final.
They are both amongst the greatest players of all time, but unlike the other greatest players of all time, neither Christiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi have played in or won a World Cup Final.
Gerrard?!?!! LMAO
The "complete" player doesn't exist anymore. The game is too fast nowadays for anyone to cover the whole pitch as Beckenbauer or Cruyff used to do. Michel Platini was the last player like that. Some say Zidane was better than Platini but already then you saw the difference. Zidane never won a defensive tackle. Players today are specialists. With all the money in the big clubs the all-rounders end up on the bench.
Wørd wrote:
Gerrard?!?!! LMAO
Gerrard was one of the best players in the world during that period. He's way past it now, but he could play AM/Wing/CM/CDM and even RB. Here is a quote from the aforementioned Zidane...
"He has great passing ability, can tackle and scores goals, but most importantly he gives the players around him confidence and belief. You can't learn that - players like him are just born with that presence."
I do agree "complete players" are dying, which is why I picked an example that is 5 years old. Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't deserve to be attributed as a complete player. Maybe a complete inside forward.
Rooney will chase back and defend. He is not as skillful as Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, but he does put a lot of pressure on defenders and midfielders defensively.
Wørd wrote:
When Messi and Ronaldo are both on top form, Messi is better. That's why he's won the prize 4 years in a row but more importantly it's why Barca have been dominant during his "reign". Ronaldo won by default this year. Messi's year was spoiled by injuries (he shouldn't even have come 2nd in the vote) and Ribery was never a serious contender,... Real without Ronaldo are better than Barca without Messi.
Rubbish. Ronaldo was injured too in 2009, his first season at Real, the year Messi won it for the first time (CR7 had won it the year before as a ManU player). Messi did NOT deserve it for 2010, Iniesta and, especially, Sneijder were robbed. Sneijder won the treble with Inter as well taking Holland to the WC finals where they lost to Spain after Iniesta's heroics.
Messi winning 4 in a row has more to do with the fact he's perceived as more humble and likable than CR7. Sports media latched on the CR7-is-a-vain-arrogant-egoist while even the odious Sepp Blatter thinks Messi would make every mother's favourite son-in-law. Many of the voters adopted an "anyone but Ronaldo" outlook, latching onto Messi and that cost poor Sneider who should have won it 2010.
As for Messi's likability, must have taken a beating after it was revealed he dodges taxes as well as tackles.
NativeSon wrote:
That said, (and I may be a little biased here) Messi is a guy from "another dimension".
Maybe in this "other dimension" all successful man are short and SCRAWNY. Because that's what Messi is.
Put Messi and Ronaldo next to each other. That's like Ryan Hall next to Usain Bolt.
If Messi or Ronaldo had no money, Ronaldo would still date a supermodel while Messis girlfriend would most likely be a tennis sock.
Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:
NativeSon wrote:That said, (and I may be a little biased here) Messi is a guy from "another dimension".
Maybe in this "other dimension" all successful man are short and SCRAWNY. Because that's what Messi is.
Put Messi and Ronaldo next to each other. That's like Ryan Hall next to Usain Bolt.
If Messi or Ronaldo had no money, Ronaldo would still date a supermodel while Messis girlfriend would most likely be a tennis sock.
Lionel Messi: Short? Yes!
Scrawny? Scrawny?
If Messi is scrawny, I don't know what Neymar is.
As for the girlfriend issue, may be the girls would tell us. I'd have no idea.
Sticking to football, Messi is a man who takes matters in his own hands if need be.
Last year, when Barca lost to Milan in hte first game of the Champions League, Messi took up matters in the return game.
He is the single main that the team beat Milan.
He is probably the only player who can change the dynamics of a game. I don't know of anyone else.
"..single main REASON..."
NativeSon wrote:
Messi is a man who takes matters in his own hands if need be.
Right. And Ronaldo never has to. There is always a model around to do this for him...
Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:
NativeSon wrote:Messi is a man who takes matters in his own hands if need be.
Right. And Ronaldo never has to. There is always a model around to do this for him...
When matters become complicated on the pitch, many a times, Cristiano Ronaldo has 'got lost' among the other 22 players. He has failed to lift his team.
Messi has single handedly done the opposite.
Champions League: took on Arsenal and scored the only goals for Barca- 4 goals.
Milan game Champions League
Man United Champions league final : scored twice
El Clasico- He doesn't need to score. Just rattle Madrid defenders, the three usual suspects Marcelo, Pepe and Ramos, make them go 'mad' and pass teh ball to his team mates.
Mourinho used to instruct these there guys to use their axes and chop Messi but the little man would still out do Madrid.
They don't come many like him.
Messi needs at least three defenders to mark him. Two will not do. That wouuld be suicidal.
I'm no Messi fanboy and I don't disagree with you that there's too much of a cult around him and all of FC Barcelona. It's fortunately dying out now as the world has gotten bored with tiki-taka and has started to notice how much the Barca players actually dive and play dirty in the big matches.
Messi should have a big dark cloud hanging over his head because of the HGH treatment. Sure he was diagnosed with a medical condition but how do we know that he was given just enough HGH to "cancel out" his illness and hasn't given him an advantage in training. He may not look like much but it takes a very strong and resilient musculature to do what he has done for many years - until recently without every really getting injured. Big question mark there.
So you might say I've always been a little biased against him, but there are honestly times when I've watched him play when I just had to surrender. He really does seem otherworldly sometimes in a way that Maradona also did but Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't. So despite not being a fan I admit that he's the best player the world has seen this century.
I think people should appreciate Ronaldo more. He's talented but not as exceptionally as Messi. But he's a very serious and hard-working athlete. He's hard to like and yes, it's because of his appearance. Also because of his incessant diving and dramatics when he was younger. Apparently in Portugal that's not frowned upon (according to e.g. Jose Mourinho) but elsewhere it is, so he brought that on himself.
Baresi wrote:
Wørd wrote:Gerrard?!?!! LMAO
Gerrard was one of the best players in the world during that period. He's way past it now, but he could play AM/Wing/CM/CDM and even RB.
Gerrard was good but he's overrated. Mostly because he was the standout player in a team that was and is vastly overrated. Liverpool was once the best team in Europe - at a critical time when the sport's popularity was growing rapidly as the English First Division started to be broadcast all over Europe. But that's 30+ years ago and while they have won the Champions League once (same as clubs like Dortmund, Marseille and Porto) Liverpool have way more fans than they deserve. Hillsborough also earned them a lot of supporters while Heysel didn't seem to cost them as many as it should have.
Gerrard hasn't won any league titles and he hasn't won anything with his national team. In 20 years nobody will mention him as one of the great players of his time the way we talk about Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Platini or Maradona today.
Wørd wrote:
I think people should appreciate Ronaldo more. He's talented but not as exceptionally as Messi. But he's a very serious and hard-working athlete. He's hard to like and yes, it's because of his appearance. Also because of his incessant diving and dramatics when he was younger. Apparently in Portugal that's not frowned upon (according to e.g. Jose Mourinho) but elsewhere it is, so he brought that on himself.
It's a matter of preference, I guess. I honestly think CR7 is a more interesting player and personality. Messi's just too one dimensional for me and and the slavish media adoration is in large part due to fact he's perceived as the anti-Ronaldo. A nice boy. Many football fans are average guys for whom just the sheer physical specimen that is Ronaldo, in addition to his flashiness on and off the field, dating supermodels, life of luxury and heartthrob status, intimidates them. CR7 represents that guy in school, who got all the girls and treated them like dirt. But it's about football and has been outstanding in both England and Spain banging in an obscene amount of goals for both Real and United. Would Messi be successful in England? I doubt it.
El Keniano wrote:
Messi's just too one dimensional
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, one the stupidest comments ever made on LR, but then again, it is a running forum.
Like I said, it's my opinion.
Yeah, Messi would fail in England. Just like all other midfielders from the Spanish league who have failed in England in recent years: Silva, Mata, Cazorla, Michu, Yaya Toure, etc. Oh but they were better than Messi in Spain, right?
You're entitled to your own opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts.
El Keniano wrote:
Would Messi be successful in England? I doubt it.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, missed that bit at the end, the second most stupid comment ever made on LR. So Messi wouldn't fit in and be successful in teams such as Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, etc, who feature some the best international players in the world, just because it happens to be the English Premier League? Hilarious.
Wørd wrote:
Yeah, Messi would fail in England. Just like all other midfielders from the Spanish league who have failed in England in recent years: Silva, Mata, Cazorla, Michu, Yaya Toure, etc. Oh but they were better than Messi in Spain, right?
You're entitled to your own opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts.
And don't forget that other great failure who went from Real Madrid to Arsenal in September 2013 and was "assigned the number 11 shirt and the centre-attacking midfield role".
Come on you Spurs wrote:
And don't forget that other great failure who went from Real Madrid to Arsenal in September 2013 and was "assigned the number 11 shirt and the centre-attacking midfield role".
You mean the guy that Spurs helped bring to Arsenal. Funny that.
They seemed to enjoy it so much that they're now doing the same in order for Arsenal to sign Draxler too.