Cause Messi was far better throughout 2012/13, even with the injury he suffered against PSG, was on course to smash his 73 goal record at the time too. Isco was Real's best player for the first 1-2 months of the following season, Ribery was voted the best player in Europe ahead of Messi and Ronaldo (who managed less than 5 votes) and the votes were extended just so he could win it after the Sweden game.
Cristiano Ronaldo
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Cause Messi was far better throughout 2012/13, even with the injury he suffered against PSG, was on course to smash his 73 goal record at the time too. Isco was Real's best player for the first 1-2 months of the following season, Ribery was voted the best player in Europe ahead of Messi and Ronaldo (who managed less than 5 votes) and the votes were extended just so he could win it after the Sweden game.
He's an interesting manager to watch. In public he seems calm, polite and non-confrontational. It looks like in private he accepts that some decisions are outside his control, but he's very protective of what he does control and the players seem to respect that.
In terms of innovation, that's not what he's about. He talks about balance, he seems to pay a lot of attention to the skillsets of the players and he's flexible. Given Madrid's rather random transfer strategy, he seems to be an ideal manager for them (which I would expect to mean that he'll be sacked at Christmas)
It's almost inevitable he scores hatricks these days, almost.
Ugh. Farce was a poor choice of words. I'll try to rephrase and expand on it: he didn't deliver in the key games at the business end of the season (CL SF v Dortmund, CdR Final v Atlético, while his team mates didn't even need him to beat Barça and Atlético in their return league meetings), resulting in his team not winning a single trophy in 2013 and equally resulting in his finishing 3rd in the UEFA Best Player in Europe award in August (with a huge discrepancy in votes with winner Ribéry and runner-up Messi); he also didn't deliver in the key games at the beginning of the next season, resulting in his team already being 7pts behind Atléti and 6 behind Barça (after their head-to-head meetings) as 2013 came to a close. A major positive in 2013 for him was the unprecedented scoring consistency he started showing in the CL. For Portugal he was downright poor in their qualifying campaign (being outscored by Postiga and Bruno Alves, a centre-back) with only a 1st international hat-trick (against N.Ireland) standing out, resulting in them needing play-offs to reach the WC despite being the top seed in a downright weak group.
So that's where things stood around November 2013; then came the play-offs v Sweden and it's these 2 games where he gave incredible performances and did deliver in grand fashion that eventually seem to have made all the difference.
To be fair, it's a tricky year to judge either way, but if the BdO were a seasonal award he'd have had no chance against Ribéry or Messi, in my opinion. As it stood, Messi's injuries at the end of 2012/13 and 1st half of 2013/14 screwed any remaining chance he might've had. Ribéry... well, with Bayern he had as good a year both individually and collectively as he could've wished for (great selfless performances v Barça in the SF; making the decisive pass for both goals in the CL Final); he was also excellent in France's qualifying campaign, being decisive in almost every game including the 2nd leg of the play-off v Ukraine (unlike Portugal who only really had Russia to contend with, France were in a group with Spain as top seed), where he created two of their goals, incl. the winner on aggregate.
The only competition where Cristiano stood out in 2013 was the WCQ two-legged play-off and the CL, except for the decisive SF v Dortmund, where he was blown out of the water by Lewandowski's performance in the 1st leg and overshadowed by his team mates Benzema and Ramos who got them back to within 1 goal of going through on away goals in the dying minutes in the 2nd leg. In La Liga 2012-13 he was outperformed by Messi, in 2013-14 (especially the relevant 1st half) by Diego Costa. In the CdR Final (at the Bernábeu incidentally) he scored a good goal, but then let frustration get the better of him which resulted in getting himself sent off in extra time as RM went on to lose their first game in any competition to Atléti since 1999.
All in all I feel he came up short too many times and think Ribéry would've been a more deserving winner in that respect.
ps: this isn't even specifically about Cristiano, because I've made the same argument with Messi's 2012 BdO win (where I felt Cristiano was more deserving because both his performance and impact in the big games was key to winning RM the title and almost getting to the CL Final and Messi in turn didn't deliver when it was required of him) numerous times in these threads. It's more about the way in which most people seem to judge these things that I often find lacking in context and being taken at face-value.
Ancelotti has won the European Cup 5 times, twice as a player and now 3 times as a manager with 2 different clubs in 2 leagues. He has won a Serie A 4 times, 3 as a player and once as a manager with Ligue 1 and the Premier League as a coach also. Those credentials, coupled with his charming, hard working and adaptable personality, it commands respect. The man wins wherever he goes and he does so mainly with smiles on the faces of those he works with both on the field, off the field and in the stands. He is simply a top bloke on top of being a truly world class modern-day, cultured coach.
Any player that has a problem working to his orders needs to have a serious mental check up. Even John Terry got on with him. That says it all, already.
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Back to Viva, wow. What a player. He's scoring so many goals but he's also there to score so many more. Last La Liga game he fed Benzema through to score when he could easily have netted the hat trick 20 minutes earlier himself when free and staring down at the goal, and today, Isco could have found him for a pass before his goal. Everything he touches is gold right now. There should be a gif of Agent Smith telling Neo of the inevitability of Ronaldo's third title. Ironically, yet another hat trick to be added to the tally this season.
Fair play, that's a good post. I still think he deserved it that year though.
Is he human?
Probably an Otherkin.
His second goal was brilliant. The kinda of thing I'd like to see him do more often.
That goal is the way we love to play him on fifa
This is it. But most fans don't have the time to watch multiple teams religiously so guy by the easiest way to judge. Stats and highlights.
Just the usual match for Ronaldo it seems.
Scoring more goals than the previous season does not equal performing better than the previous season. Such logic, only on the caf 
Ronaldo has scored 15 league goals this season, i.e. he's managed to score nearly 50% of his league goals from last season just in 7 games.
Only a few years ago people were laughing at me (and other fans here) when we suggested he is the best in the world. It was deemed "no competition".
Anyway... I'm not really following Madrid this season. Can anyone tell me what position he's playing?
Anyway... I'm not really following Madrid this season. Can anyone tell me what position he's playing?
Scoring more goals than the previous season does not equal performing better than the previous season. Such logic, only on the caf
Ronaldo scored some 20 odd goals in 06/07 and 40 odd goals in the season after. In my opinion, he had a better season contributing to the team in 06/07.
There are plenty of examples of players contributing more having scored less. It's not linear.
There isn't a great deal of difference between those 2 seasons (44 goals + assists in 06/07 compared to 50 the next season) but he was certainly better to watch in 06/07 and more of a team player.
What? He scored 23 in 06/07 and 42 in 07/08..
I was adding assists as well. He had 21 assists in 06/07 compared to 8 in 07/08.
I used the word 'performance'. I don't know how scoring more goals can be construed as performing worse.
15 league goals already? 
Goals aren't everything but they're the most important thing. When you're effectively guaranteeing a goal a game across 5 seasons of football then you render other aspects of your 'performance' irrelevant.
Goals aren't everything but they're the most important thing. When you're effectively guaranteeing a goal a game across 5 seasons of football then you render other aspects of your 'performance' irrelevant.
15 league goals already?
Goals aren't everything but they're the most important thing. When you're effectively guaranteeing a goal a game across 5 seasons of football then you render other aspects of your 'performance' irrelevant.
Spot on.
That's the whole point. Scoring goals, while a decent indicator of the level of performance, doesn't necessarilly mean anything either way towards that level of performance.
Scenario:
- last week player X barely misplaced a pass or lost possession while being very involved all game (lots of touches and passes), creating several goalscoring chances by himself (both for himself and his team mates) and eventually scoring a nice solo goal.
- this week player X is dispossessed quite often, sees many of his passes go astray, doesn't do anything with the ball unless he receives it in a shooting/goalscoring position and eventually scores a hat-trick of 6-yard tap-ins created for him with pin-point precision by his team mates.
Which was the better performance according to you? Fair enough if you think the 2nd one but I personally could never agree with that.
15 league goals already?
Goals aren't everything but they're the most important thing. When you're effectively guaranteeing a goal a game across 5 seasons of football then you render other aspects of your 'performance' irrelevant.
I don't think irrelevant is correct, but it certainly makes it less relevant, sure. It's obviously an important quality to have, being able to be decisive even when you're not playing well. For me, the issue arises when there are other players who are being just as decisive or important to the team while consistently playing well, the only difference being they don't rack up the stats to the same heights as a Messi or a Cristiano.
As someone who has always been a bit sniffy about Ronaldo in a Madrid shirt, I'd just like to say how much I'm looking forward to watching him play tonight whilst being 100% behind him.
I really did enjoy watching him at United (apart from some of the petulance of his final season) and he's become absurdly good since he left us. I begrudged him his move and can't stand Real Madrid so I reckon every single game I've watched him play in since I've been actively hoping he doesn't score (apart from Portugal games, where I'm usually kind of indifferent) Tonight is different, though. I'm genuinely excited about watching him strut his stuff without even a hint of conflicted emotions. Lovely stuff. Bring it on.
I really did enjoy watching him at United (apart from some of the petulance of his final season) and he's become absurdly good since he left us. I begrudged him his move and can't stand Real Madrid so I reckon every single game I've watched him play in since I've been actively hoping he doesn't score (apart from Portugal games, where I'm usually kind of indifferent) Tonight is different, though. I'm genuinely excited about watching him strut his stuff without even a hint of conflicted emotions. Lovely stuff. Bring it on.
Best player in the world. Just hope he rips the scousers a new one tonight.
It'll be hard for him though, he'll be up against the likes of Johnson, Sakho and Lovren...
It'll be hard for him though, he'll be up against the likes of Johnson, Sakho and Lovren...
I've always maintained some level of affection for him, minimal and begrudging at first but steadily rising, but I agree on the first paragraph. Shameful as it may be, it almost feels like the build up to a big Utd match for me!
I've loved him shamelessly all the time
But tonight.. there is something in the air.. I can smell scouse blood!
For all the goals he has been scoring this season, he is 4 goals behind Adriano in this CL. Needs to kick it up a notch tonight.
He's not a big game player...
Yeah, vicarious Champion's League enthusiasm is as petty as it gets. Especially when it mainly revolves around hoping other teams lose.
If I'm honest, my temporary Ronaldo love-in is mainly about making the experience slightly more positive than my recent CL watching experiences; desperately wanting English teams to ship goals and have players injured/sent off. You can rack up a whole load of bad karma from that sort of shit!
I've fecking jinxed him now, haven't I?
True. I'm working with quite a few Liverpool supporters of varying degrees of obnoxiousness these days, so if vicarious, petty and shameful gets me through this season then so be it
.I don't think he'll have a good game tonight, personally. BR will probably get L'pool to double/triple up on him. I expect Isco, or one of the midfielders to have the stand out performance of the night.
James Rodriguez might step up then. Someone else I really enjoyed watching in the past (albeit much more recently)
Stevie doesn't seem motivated at all. Not the same confident guy he was back in April. I think he knows he is in for a battering.
Ronaldo was just a very good player for United? Okay.
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