Is there still any doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi

Ahmed O

Big football fan.

38w ago

There's actually no debate that Messi is still WAY BETTER than Ronaldo.

Team trophies aside (which Messi has more of despite being younger), Messi is simply the better player individually.

They are both incredible goalscorers, Cristiano has several goalscoring records (Madrid’s all time top-scorer, for example) and same goes for Messi (Most goals ever scored in a single calendar year, most Clasico goals, most league goals ever scored in one season). But that is the only aspect in which they are somewhat comparable.

No one compares them based on playmaking ability because Cristiano basically has no playmaking ability, unlike Messi who actually won IFFHS’s “best play-maker in the world” award the past 2 seasons.

Also, no one compares them based on dribbling ability because everyone knows Messi is light-years ahead of Cristiano (Cristiano has more unsuccessful dribble attempts than successful ones this season), while on the other hand there is obviously no need to speak about Messi’s insane dribbling ability.

We should respect both players but we shouldn't ignore what we see with our own eyes, there is a reason why most professionals and experts hail Messi as the greatest, because he is the greatest.

Ahmad Al-Jamea

The owner of 100and21.wordpress.com

34w ago

If we're talking about this year, I think Ronaldo will deservedly win the Ballon d'Or for playing a very crucial role in Real Madrid's La Liga triumph, especially in the last few games, and for his historic UCL campaign, where he had probably The best KO stages performance in UCL history.

I still fully acknowledge the brilliant, brilliant league season Messi had.

If we're talking overall (i.e. about their entire careers), the debate can't be over until they retire.
A little more than 4 years ago, when Messi won his fourth Ballon d'Or while Ronaldo was still on one, everyone said it's over and that Ronaldo would never catch up since he is 2 years older with 3 less awards, remember ? Guess what happens next ? IN December, Ronaldo will equal Messi’s record of 5 Ballon d'Or.

Conclusion : You can never tell what happens next.

I know, I know, Messi winning his 4th Ballon d'Or was at a much earlier stage of the two's career, but the principle still holds.

At this very moment, I definitely consider Ronaldo the player with the better career, the greater player, and here is why (briefly) :

Completeness : During their peaks (or judging by their career overall, whatever way you look at it), Ronaldo is as complete as, if not more complete than Messi.

Consistency : Both are unrivaled among all-time greats, dominating the world of football for a decade.

Individual Awards : By next January, the two will have an equal number of Ballon d’Or awards and Golden Shoe awards. Ronaldo won the UCL top goalscorer more than Messi (Ronaldo 6–5 Messi), but there is no official award for that.

Team Trophies : Counting the most important trophies the two won as regular starters, Ronaldo has one less domestic league (LM 6–5 CR), one more UCL title (LM 3–4 CR), and one more international trophy (LM 0–1 CR). Unless you think a La Liga title is bigger than the Champions League and the Euro combined, Ronaldo wins here.

End Product : Under normal and similar circumstances, Ronaldo’s end product is as good as Messi’s. From 09/10 (Ronaldo’s first year at Real Madrid) to 15/16, Ronaldo and Messi had a pretty much equal goal+assist/game average in La Liga and UCL (Messi 1.41 - 1.39 Ronaldo). I would say that Messi had the better team for most of that period (5 seasons out of 7), but even if you don’t agree, it’s a draw at worst.
This season, several circumstances caused Ronaldo’s end product to decline.

UEFA Champions League : I want to talk about this competition in particular because : One, it’s the competition the two shared throughout their careers. Two, it’s the most prestigious club competition there is.
While it may at first appear that Ronaldo’s superior numbers is a result of him being older, when you look closely, you see that his superiority gets bigger and bigger as you go further up in the competition, in a way that can’t be explained by a two-year difference.

There is only one very clear winner here. The fact that Ronaldo achieved such legendary despite playing half of his career as a winger and the the other, except this season, as a winger-forward (compared to Messi playing about half of his career as a CF and the rest as a winger-forward) is beyond words.
By the way, Ronaldo also has more assists overall and more assists in KO stages.

Conclusion : Ronaldo either wins or draws in every criteria. The big difference here is : Ronaldo achieved major success with 3 team (Portugal, Man United, Real Madrid) on 3 different stages (International level, EPL, La Liga) while all of Messi’s success came with Barcelona.

Still, Messi might turn the tables before the two retire, so let’s wait and see.

Kubee

Business Development Manager

38w ago

Credit is due the whole Real Madrid team especially Kroos, Marcelo, Isco and Modric. Without their brilliance Ronaldo would be lost as always. Barca’s season has been largely on the shoulders of Messi. Stop wishing to get the GOAT tag to Ronaldo because you are against the 80% of the world who technically think it is clearly Messi should he have not even scored a single career goal.

Mahesh V

Witnessed his powers and drawbacks analytically

38w ago

Every doubt has been settled, if u clearly analyse both the matches, ie. Juve vs barca and real madrid,we can clearly come to the fact that real Madrid has got a stretching midfield which is strong enough to break any defense and supply the ball to their main striker (cr7)

Thus, we can conclude that Ronaldo's undoubtedly the best goalscorer the sport has ever seen

Now, coming to Barca's match against Juve, the whole team was death still and Messi was forced to penetrate into juve's defense by himself. Which he did succeed and created as many as 9 chances and every bit of it was wasted. The best midfield barca always had is done . the little magician is now the midfield engine and the Super striker

Thus, we can conclude that CR7>Messi whilst comparing their goal scoring statistics

And also Messi >CR7, when comparing their holistic footballing ability

MESSI is the Greatest. Of. All. Time

If you still think that Messi is below a superhuman, please raise your standards.

Edit 1:- kubee,a special thanks to you for rectifying the mistake

Glenn Faison

B.Eng. Software Engineering, University of Buea, Cameroon (2018)

37w ago

Yep, there is.

Messi has out-scored and out-assisted Ronaldo in every competition this season, except in the Champions League.

Messi’s interplay has been far superior.

You may have noticed he’s quickly catching up to Ronaldo’s goal stats. There’s no longer much of a difference between them goal-wise, and there’s a gulf in Messi’s favour, assist-wise.

Let’s not talk about the dribbling.

You may also notice that Messi’s trophy cabinet is more laden than Ronaldo’s. His career has been shorter so far, but he has accumulated trophies at a higher rate than his rival.

However, there’s not much of a difference because, Ronaldo, in recent seasons, is more of the man for the big moment: invisible throughout games, then popping up with decisive goals or assists when they matter. Impact-wise, it seems Ronaldo is still improving, in utter disregard to his age. The goals are still in his favour overall, for now. There’s also the trophy with the national side, tipping the balance a little towards Ronaldo.

The opinion of who’s better is still very much subject to debate.

David Abraham

studied Robotics & Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

38w ago

Plenty. Although CR7 has had a very successful year, he was nowhere near as good as he was or anywhere near messi. I think if you watched all of the matches, you would agree that this season, messi was untouchable on top. However, Real Madrid were the best TEAM this season. CR7 definitely played a big part in this, but it wasn't ronaldos brilliance that made this Madrid side special. Of course when madrid does well, it is credited to Ronaldo whether he played a big part or not. Same with messi. So if by better you meant better player, then yes, theres plenty of doubt.