What a thoroughly unlikeable person Ronaldo is

Yeah definitely agree mate. They’re so close talent wise that it’s unreal but I think Ronaldo edges him by the faintest of margin. Both are incredible players, they make it seem effortless and I doubt we’ll see anyone even close to their talent in our lifetimes.

 

Ronaldo is incredible and one of the all time greats but a lot of nonsense being talked about Messi on this Thread.

1. He couldn’t do it in the Premier League-
He’s scored 20 goals in his last 18 games against Premier league sides. That’s the top 4 Premier League sides as well.

2. Ronaldo is more complete-
Messi was the ranked 1st in goals scored, assists, dribbles completed,clear cut chances created and free kicks scored in La Liga. He’s essentially Salah and De Bruyne rolled into one player.

3. He’s only done it for Barcelona-
Dragged a poor Argentina side to 3 major finals. They look good on paper but they’re awful when he doesn’t play. Wouldn’t even be at the World Cup without him he needed to score an hat trick in their last game against Ecuador to qualify. Scored 4 and assisted 2 of their 8 goals at the last World Cup. Lost 6-1 to Spain without him. Scored 30 more goals than Maradona did for Argentina.

4. He’s scared to leave his comfort zone-
Left Argentina to go and play for Barcelona when he was 14 years old. Leaving his mother at home 10,000 miles away. Why is it seen as a great sign of loyalty when Totti, Giggs and Scholes play for one side their whole career but a sign of weakness when Messi does it??

They’re the 2 best of this generation by a street, the consistency is mind boggling.
Hard to compare with Maradona and Pele because it’s a completely different game to when they played.

 

Never 'got it' with Messi. Every game I've watched him in from start to finish he's played like he did today- lots of flattery with no substance. I think he heavily relies on the world class team mates he has at Barca to make his indulgent style work, Ronaldo can carry a team on his own as he did against Spain.

 

My pet hate of him is the press w@nking over him all the time.

BBC highlights thingy just said "Ronanldos stunning hat trick"......Penalty. goalie **** up, first free kick scored after 44 attempts....hardly stunning.

Then in the Mirror player score .....10...ffs ....all he did in between was moan and whine !

 

I prefer Messi to be honest.

He's not had the greatest game today obviously, but he's a team player, not selfish, no arrogance or controversy. Gets on with the job at hand without feeling the need to show everyone his chuffin 6 pack every two mins.

 

Messi had a shocker today didn't he, and maybe he and that Argie team are more than a bit over-rated now. They only scraped through to the Finals because of Messi, and they do seem to be just a one or two man team.

 

I prefer Messi too.

But he is not a team player any more than Ronaldo.

He does no real work in defence.

In the game against Iceland he tried time after time, just outside the box, to move to a situation where he could have a strike himself.

I don't blame him for that. But he 's probably a bit more selfish in possession than Ronaldo is.

So who does that make the best team player?

Messi gives less grief to his team mates though, which would be the deciding factor for me.

 

Be good to see if Messi could be a success in three different countries and for his national side too.

 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/lionel-messi-is-impossible/

This is a fairly compelling argument in favour of Messi

 

Just watched the highlights of this as I missed the match. Penalty!???? Looks like they're going to have to declare a 5 yard exclusion zone around him as it seems the slightest flick on his shorts is reason for a spot kick.
Should have been booked and given a retrospective three match ban for being a diving cheat.
Great player though I'm afraid.

 

I do not like the guy also... but cannot help but admit he is one of the best footballers ever.

 

He’s probably the second greatest footballer in history he’s just unlucky that he’s playing in the same period as the greatest.

A couple of opinions of mine -

A lot say it was tougher in the 70’s, 80’s etc because players got less protection from referees but I think it was far easier back then, players were nowhere near as fit, you had so much more time on the ball, someone like Maradona for example could not cope in the modern game unless he completely changed his lifestyle, you can’t get away with cutting corners these days.

Defending was on the whole awful, I watch great goals like the famous Brazil one & it’s been played at walking pace, no pressing, just wouldn’t happen in the modern game.

What makes someone like Messi so special to me is that every time he picks up the ball he’s instantly got midfielders / defenders who are in general bigger & stronger than him all over him with no time on the ball yet he somehow finds space.

Real & Barca are the two biggest clubs in the world, if you’re at one of them you don’t leave unless it’s for financial reasons or you aren’t up to the standard, Man Utd might sell more shirts or have more twitter followers but players there regularly want to leave for the big Spanish clubs, Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy & Beckham have all done it, De Gea wants to too. Unless you’re a Ryan Giggs / Scholes / Neville come through the academy type you’re going to want to leave.

And the testing himself with Ronaldo is nonsense. He went to Man Utd because they were the biggest club in for him at the time, if he came through the Real Madrid academy I’m certain he’d have never left, why would you?

And surely no one honestly thinks Messi couldn’t hack it in the Prem? Have you seen what he’s done to teams from England over the last 10 years. Burnley’s just finished 7th, Leicester won the league a couple of years ago, he’d run riot over here

Also when it comes to international football, luck plays a massive part. Ronaldo won the Euro’s but his team absolutely fluked it, they didn’t win a game in the group, rode their luck in the knockout stage & won a final in which they were second best whilst Ronaldo was on the bench.

Compare that to Argentina who were also second best in their World Cup final but had a sitter to win it late on which their striker missed?

Do we really think that a Portuguese striker scoring from outside the box whilst an Argentine striker misses a sitter has any baring on who the best of the two is especially when Messi was better in 2014 World Cup than Ronaldo was in the 2016 Euro’s