Great strikers historical rankings

[The holy trinity 68]

The same people that put Gerd Müller in Tier 1 and say he's the GOAT because of "look at his goal records" are putting Lewandowski, Benzema and Suarez one or two tiers below van Basten and Ronaldo because "statistics aren't everything, look at how Ronaldo could dribble for 2 or 3 years", it doesn't make any sense

The difference between Lewandowski, Benzema and Suarez compared to Gerd Muller is that Muller has scored in multiple World Cup finals, European Championship finals and European Cup finals, he was far more of a clutch striker in the big games and big moments than them 3.

 

[Red the Bear]

The same people that put Gerd Müller in Tier 1 and say he's the GOAT because of "look at his goal records" are putting Lewandowski, Benzema and Suarez one or two tiers below van Basten and Ronaldo because "statistics aren't everything, look at how Ronaldo could dribble for 2 or 3 years", it doesn't make any sense

Never seen a bayern fan degrade their biggest (or second biggest) legend like this, anyway his goalscoring records exit and you can also see his performance in recorded matches where his brilliance was evident and he was incredibly clutch as well literally bringing his national team and club some of their biggest titles and I believe is the only player to have scored in a European cup final a euro and a world cup final.
Pretty hard to top that to be honest, he definitely belongs in tier 1.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

You’re wrong. I’d argue that Van Basten and Romario could have slotted into many more teams and succeeded than Messi and Ronaldo. They’re not overall better players, few are. But they were better single chance and single game strikers.

Don’t make it binary.

What do you mean by that? If you're trying to say they're better big game players then that's laughable given Messi and Ronaldo are the 2 best players in the most stacked football competition ever.

Ronaldo and Messi couldn't have slotted into any team? They were the two best players in the world by a massive gap for over a decade, they're not some system reliant players.

Van Basten and Romario aren't near Messi or Ronaldo as players, it takes rose tainted nostalgia glasses to claim otherwise.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

What do you mean by that? If you're trying to say they're better big game players then that's laughable given Messi and Ronaldo are the 2 best players in the most stacked football competition ever.

Ronaldo and Messi couldn't have slotted into any team? They were the two best players in the world by a massive gap for over a decade, they're not some system reliant players.

Van Basten and Romario aren't near Messi or Ronaldo as players, it takes rose tainted nostalgia glasses to claim otherwise.

If you honestly think that in a single game, last minute, last chance against the best keeper ever, you’d pick Messi or Ronaldo to convert, you’re lying.

There is such a complex criteria to judge the best centre forwards of all time and I suspect you’re just looking at modern day footballers running up cricket score tallies.

Ronaldo and Messi are both top 5 of all time as players. They are not in the top 10 specialist strikers of all time. That’s ok! Pele isn’t. Nor Cruyff or Maradona or Best.

Let it go ffs.

 

[Righteous Steps]

What do you mean by that? If you're trying to say they're better big game players then that's laughable given Messi and Ronaldo are the 2 best players in the most stacked football competition ever.

Ronaldo and Messi couldn't have slotted into any team? They were the two best players in the world by a massive gap for over a decade, they're not some system reliant players.

Van Basten and Romario aren't near Messi or Ronaldo as players, it takes rose tainted nostalgia glasses to claim otherwise.

Van Basten was close to Cristiano ability wise actually to say he wasn’t anywhere near him is a step too far, he had won 3 ballon d’ors and a FIFA World Player of The Year by the time he was 28, 4 Serie A and 3 European cups by that age too, as a footballer not any less complete.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Van Basten was close to Cristiano ability wise actually to say he wasn’t anywhere near him is a step too far, he had won 3 ballon d’ors and a FIFA World Player of The Year by the time he was 28, 4 Serie A and 3 European cups by that age too, as a footballer not any less complete.

Ronaldo will retire with 3 times Van Basten's number of career goals and in his prime was a much better dribbler and creator too

There's no possible argument for Van Basten to be comparable to Ronaldo that's just utterly laughable

Nostalgia is a drug

There hasn't been a single player on the level of Messi or Ronaldo for the past 20 years but we're supposed to believe there were a dozen just as good as them in the 80s ? Come on now.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

Ronaldo will retire with 3 times Van Basten's number of career goals and in his prime was a much better dribbler and creator too

There's no possible argument for Van Basten to be comparable to Ronaldo that's just utterly laughable

Nostalgia is a drug

There hasn't been a single player on the level of Messi or Ronaldo for the past 20 years but we're supposed to believe there were a dozen just as good as them in the 80s ? Come on now.

You’re 25 years old

 

[Righteous Steps]

Ronaldo will retire with 3 times Van Basten's number of career goals and in his prime was a much better dribbler and creator too

There's no possible argument for Van Basten to be comparable to Ronaldo that's just utterly laughable

Nostalgia is a drug

There hasn't been a single player on the level of Messi or Ronaldo for the past 20 years but we're supposed to believe there were a dozen just as good as them in the 80s ? Come on now.

You said Van Basten wasn’t anywhere near him as a a player, but he was. If weee arguing who has a greater career then it’s obviously Ronaldo but the argument isn’t solely based on that, as a player Van Basten was the equal of Cristiano if we’re just looking at peaks, he has done much of what Ronaldo had done by the age of 28 when he retired. Footballing wise there was very little aspects of the game where Ronaldo was better than Van Basten by a great distance, whether that be dribbling in the air or shooting, the argument was based on your terminology that MVB was ‘nowhere near’ which I couldn’t agree with.

And yes Maradona Platini Van Basten are probably the three who you would say was operating on a similar level for a period of time, two of those three(Platini Maradona) are constantly put in discussions of the top 10 greatest players in the history of the game.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

By that logic mess is also a striker.

I would consider Messi also for a striker, but definitely a forward at least. But Ronaldo definitely should be considered a striker. Ronaldo has far more in common with how he plays with Muller than Ribery.

 

[Pretzels81]

Van Basten and Romario absolutely do not belong in the same tier as CR/Messi
They're much closer to the level of the players you've put in your tier below such as Suarez,Lewandowski or Henry than they are to Messi/Ronaldo

What Van Basten did in 87-90 with Milan and in 1988 with Holland secures him as one the Tier1 strikers. Romario in his 1992-94 peak is still the most unpredictable/lethal striker I've ever seen, at least until Messi. Also,1000 goals scored, WC94 title.

 

[Red the Bear]

I would consider Messi also for a striker, but definitely a forward at least. But Ronaldo definitely should be considered a striker. Ronaldo has far more in common with how he plays with Muller than Ribery.

It's very hard to categorise some of these players like eusebio , Law and henery as the categorization get rather very blurry at some point, and I concede that some of my personal listings are very murky but I consider Ronaldo to be more of a winger , if you consider him to be a striker I can't argue with you.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

The insanity of Ronaldo and Messi stans suggesting you’d take them over truly surgical strikers always for every game is so pathetic.

Football fans used to be way smarter. You don’t even have to go back that far. I understood when we dropped Scholes for Butt. The idea that your play both Ronaldo and Messi against the stingiest Defences of all time ‘because stats’ is so dumb. As monumentally incredible as they both are, I’d take numerous one-chance-one-goal strikers over them. Not every game over a whole season. But lots of the time.

Why is that such a controversial opinion?

 

[Morty_]

I would consider Messi also for a striker, but definitely a forward at least. But Ronaldo definitely should be considered a striker. Ronaldo has far more in common with how he plays with Muller than Ribery.

Well, Cristiano Ronaldo at his peak was an inside forward, not a striker, at best you could say he is a striker in a 4-4-2, lone striker? No.
I'd have him out on the left if i was to make a "dream team", no question.

 

[genardk]

I would consider Messi also for a striker, but definitely a forward at least. But Ronaldo definitely should be considered a striker. Ronaldo has far more in common with how he plays with Muller than Ribery.

Messi is one of the greatest playmakers & dribblers ever, he is basically Maradona plus elite goal scoring, does not really make sense to categorize him as just a striker..

https://acefootball.com/football-news/the-10-best-playmakers-of-the-last-15-years-have-been-ranked/

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

What Van Basten did in 87-90 with Milan and in 1988 with Holland secures him as one the Tier1 strikers. Romario in his 1992-94 peak is still the most unpredictable/lethal striker I've ever seen, at least until Messi. Also,1000 goals scored, WC94 title.

Van Basten and Romario were far better single chance strikers than Ronaldo & Messi. Anyone suggesting otherwise is a child. To get wilder, so are/were Kane, Aguero, Batistuta and Shearer. People are mad.

 

[antohan]

The first question would obviously be what is a striker?
As there are many players that exist somewhere in-between categories — going by your list alone I already see Eusébio, Stoichkov & Rummenigge that I wouldn't categorise as strikers, at least not at their peak (Stoichkov had played as one for Bulgaria but his peak would still be as a left-sided wing forward). It's easier with those forwards that preferred wider areas but categorising old-fashioned inside forwards is a huge pain — take Puskás (pre-Madrid), Kocsis, Greaves, Law that usually played as an inside forward and not as a central striker in those 5-men attacking lines... especially when there's not a lot of footage to make a proper judgment.

So here's a bunch of players that often played as an inside forwards/support strikers, usually being their team's main goalscorers, that I don't count as strikers: Puskás, Di Stéfano, Eusébio, Pelé, Rummenigge, Stoichkov, Blokhin, Cristiano, Baggio, Kempes... some of them played as strikers early on (like Pelé) or later (like Puskás, Cristiano) throughout their careers but I want to focus on players' peak versions even though those limited versions of Pelé or Puskás can easily get a spot in top-5.

T1:
Gerd Müller, Luís Ronaldo, Marco van Basten
It's really a coin-toss between the three for the GOAT title for me. Müller is the only one that had been able to perform at his peak level for a long time without injuries getting in his way — I don't think it's an outlandish claim to state that both Ronaldo & van Basten could've secured that top spot for themselves if their careers weren't defined by their injuries. It's important to say that when I talk about Ronaldo I talk about his version from 1996 to 1999, before his knees gave up at the age of 23 Van Basten was able to perform at the highest level for longer even though he had missed entire seasons due to his injuries, finally retiring at the mere age of 28.

T1,5 (#4)
Romário
I can't put him in the first tier but he's done enough to be singled out as the closest runner up. If you compare their overall careers it probably won't even be a stretch to say that he was a better player than Luís Ronaldo but the latter's peak was just too special. Up until 23 he was on the trajectory to become not simply the greatest striker of all-time, but arguable the greatest player ever — and that includes Pelé, Maradona and, later, Messi. If Romário was a bit more professional he probably would've ended up in tier 1 anyway.

T2:
Uwe Seeler, Denis Law, Sándor Kocsis, Thierry Henry, Andriy Shevchenko // probably Luis Suárez & Robert Lewandowski, I always find it hard to evaluate current players

T3:
Jimmy Greaves, Alberto Spencer, Luigi Riva, Karim Benzema, Gabriel Batistuta // by reputation alone, Arsenio Erico, Silvio Piola, Dixie Deane, Gunnar Nordahl, Josef Bican

T4:
Preben Elkjær, Jürgen Klinsmann, Alan Shearer, John Charles, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimović

T5:
Just Fontaine, Robin van Persie, Sergio Agüero etc. (there's going to be quite a few)

I'd take Rossi & Papin out from your list, despite their Ballon d'Or wins I don't think that their career justify a place higher than T4. Same with Sanchez.

<3

Since I have no like option as others seem to

 

[BayernFan87]

Never seen a bayern fan degrade their biggest (or second biggest) legend like this, anyway his goalscoring records exit and you can also see his performance in recorded matches where his brilliance was evident and he was incredibly clutch as well literally bringing his national team and club some of their biggest titles and I believe is the only player to have scored in a European cup final a euro and a world cup final.
Pretty hard to top that to be honest, he definitely belongs in tier 1.

No no I didn't want to degrade him in any form. I would also definitely consider him as one of the best strikers ever.

I just argumented this way because many/most people in here rate Ronaldo, van Basten and even Romario 1 or 2 tiers above Lewy/Suarez/Benzema.
And looking at the statistics that's hard to justify. You can argue that Ronaldo or Romario offer more than just goals but Gerd Müller is THE poacher. He offered almost nothing outside the box.

So I just wanted to say that I find it weird if people put Müller in Tier 1 because of his numbers but Lewy/Benzema only on Tier 3 because "numbers aren't everything"

 

[Red the Bear]

No no I didn't want to degrade him in any form. I would also definitely consider him as one of the best strikers ever.

I just argumented this way because many/most people in here rate Ronaldo, van Basten and even Romario 1 or 2 tiers above Lewy/Suarez/Benzema.
And looking at the statistics that's hard to justify. You can argue that Ronaldo or Romario offer more than just goals but Gerd Müller is THE poacher. He offered almost nothing outside the box.

So I just wanted to say that I find it weird if people put Müller in Tier 1 because of his numbers but Lewy/Benzema only on Tier 3 because "numbers aren't everything"

Fair enough I myself put lewy on tier 2 very great indeed just not the best of the best , tier 1 doesn't contain that many people anyway so it's a special club.
Also regarding your points about lewy/Benzema while that people can sometimes put on a rose tinted glass , it's hard to deny that football has become much more of a one sided affair with the best strikers moving to much better teams were they basically steam roll other teams, just compare lewy's dourtmound number to his bayern ones and also consider that gap between the top and bottom teams has grown everywhere in Europe.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Well, Cristiano Ronaldo at his peak was an inside forward, not a striker, at best you could say he is a striker in a 4-4-2, lone striker? No.
I'd have him out on the left if i was to make a "dream team", no question.

Ronaldo played quite a lot of his most successful football (2017 for example is his best season in my opinion) pretty much up front with Benzema in a 442. He was the furthest up the pitch and most often in the box. He wasn’t playing like a winger.

As for Messi, he played his best football arguably as central striker with Pedro and Villa either side. He played it like a false 9, but was it that different to say the way Brazilian Ronaldo or Henry played as striker? He was still the main forward of the team in a traditional sense. Before and after that he was right wing, but his peak was central forward.

 

[James Peril]

The game and the players are at its physical, most difficult peak… yet people but Lewandowski and Suarez behind some Hungarian bloke that played in the 50’s and which they have NEVER seen play a single game. Sorry, these threads are way to hipster to take them seriously. Unlike music, it’s impossible to compare and the level back in the 50’s was atrocious. Heck, even the level of defending in 1986 was beyond ridiculously bad.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

The game and the players are at its physical, most difficult peak… yet people but Lewandowski and Suarez behind some Hungarian bloke that played in the 50’s and which they have NEVER seen play a single game. Sorry, these threads are way to hipster to take them seriously. Unlike music, it’s impossible to compare and the level back in the 50’s was atrocious. Heck, even the level of defending in 1986 was beyond ridiculously bad.

Fully agree with everything you've said.
This doesn't just apply to striker.
Messi is objectively the best to ever play the game, sure you can argue he's not the greatest and someone was better in his own respective era, but as far as how good he actually is, there's never been anyone better, and Ronaldo is number 2.

 

[Morty_]

Ronaldo played quite a lot of his most successful football (2017 for example is his best season in my opinion) pretty much up front with Benzema in a 442. He was the furthest up the pitch and most often in the box. He wasn’t playing like a winger.

As for Messi, he played his best football arguably as central striker with Pedro and Villa either side. He played it like a false 9, but was it that different to say the way Brazilian Ronaldo or Henry played as striker? He was still the main forward of the team in a traditional sense. Before and after that he was right wing, but his peak was central forward.

"Successful football" can mean many things, was it the best times in terms of collective awards? Yes.
Was it his best time as an individual player? No it wasn't, his peak as a player was from 2007-2014, but he had to contend with an all-time great Barcelona team back then, not so much in his 3-peat, which affected his collective trophy haul.

Also, there is a difference between inside forward and a winger, Ronaldo as a winger died a long time back, but he did operate out wide for many years after, even if he drifted central for crosses.

 

[Pretzels81]

Tier1: DiStéfano, Pelé, Eusebio, Müller, Van Basten, Romário, Ronaldo, CR, Messi

Tier2: Puskas, Garrincha, Fontaine, Klinsmann, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona, Bergkamp, Shearer, Shevchenko, Henry, Van Nistelrooy, Ibrahimovic, Lewandowski.

Tier3: Law, Rossi, I.Rush, Barnes, H.Sanchez, Papin, Weah, Larsson, Del Piero, Suker, Batistuta, Raúl, A.Cole, Yorke, Trezeguet, Inzaghi, Eto'o, Rooney, Torres, Villa, Klose, Drogba, Agüero, Suárez, Benzema, Salah, Mbappé.

 

[Andrade]

The game and the players are at its physical, most difficult peak…

Please explain why it is more difficult now than in the past. Seeing as every modern change that might make it harder is offset by something that makes it easier (better equipment, no quagmire pitches, protection from referees, substitutes etc).

yet people but Lewandowski and Suarez behind some Hungarian bloke that played in the 50’s and which they have NEVER seen play a single game.

I assume you're talking about Puskas. Speak for yourself. I recently watched the 1960 European Cup final and it was a great watch. And he was great. What a left peg. Even the infamous Hungary - England game that shook up the UK is available in full for free at the touch of a mouse button, though the picture quality is not great.

Sorry, these threads are way to hipster to take them seriously.

I don't know what 'hipster" means but it seems to be a word that disparages interest in non-standard things. Which I can't understand.

Unlike music, it’s impossible to compare and the level back in the 50’s was atrocious. Heck, even the level of defending in 1986 was beyond ridiculously bad.

The level of defending in the 80s and 90s at the top end was arguably better than it is now. Who is the modern day Baresi?

And if the level of defending was so bad in the past, why was the average amount of goals scored in a game at the 2018 World Cup more than the equivalent in 1986 and 1990? Or even 1974? I mean, if the defending was so atrocious, surely that would result in way more goals? In fact, since 1962, the number of goals per match in the WC has never gone above 3.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Tier1: DiStéfano, Pelé, Eusebio, Müller, Van Basten, Romário, Ronaldo, CR, Messi

Tier2: Puskas, Garrincha, Fontaine, Klinsmann, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona, Bergkamp, Shearer, Shevchenko, Henry, Van Nistelrooy, Ibrahimovic, Lewandowski.

Tier3: Law, Rossi, I.Rush, Barnes, H.Sanchez, Papin, Weah, Larsson, Del Piero, Suker, Batistuta, Raúl, A.Cole, Yorke, Trezeguet, Inzaghi, Eto'o, Rooney, Torres, Villa, Klose, Drogba, Agüero, Suárez, Benzema, Salah, Mbappé.

Words can't express how little sense that makes

 

[Freak]

R9 for me. I was in awe everytime I watched him play. Marvellous player and I haven’t seen any striker as good since.

 

[RedRonaldo]

You said Van Basten wasn’t anywhere near him as a a player, but he was. If weee arguing who has a greater career then it’s obviously Ronaldo but the argument isn’t solely based on that, as a player Van Basten was the equal of Cristiano if we’re just looking at peaks, he has done much of what Ronaldo had done by the age of 28 when he retired. Footballing wise there was very little aspects of the game where Ronaldo was better than Van Basten by a great distance, whether that be dribbling in the air or shooting, the argument was based on your terminology that MVB was ‘nowhere near’ which I couldn’t agree with.

And yes Maradona Platini Van Basten are probably the three who you would say was operating on a similar level for a period of time, two of those three(Platini Maradona) are constantly put in discussions of the top 10 greatest players in the history of the game.

Van Basten was great striker, but as a player he was nowhere near Ronaldo at their respective peaks. Maybe he is more comparable to 30-35 year old version of Ronaldo (pure goalscorer/poacher version in terms of finishing/composure/shooting technique etc), but nowhere near the 22-29 year old version (in terms of shooting/running/pace/tricks/dribbling/long shots/freekicks/heading/athleticism/movement/determination etc).

 

[Fortitude]

Van Basten was great striker, but as a player he was nowhere near Ronaldo at their respective peaks. Maybe he is more comparable to 30-35 year old version of Ronaldo (pure goalscorer/poacher version in terms of finishing/composure/shooting technique etc), but nowhere near the 22-29 year old version (in terms of shooting/running/pace/tricks/dribbling/long shots/freekicks/heading/athleticism/movement/determination etc).

I don’t know how anyone can post something like this with a straight face. As much as I rate Ronaldo and would have him in my ultimate xi, even at his peak-peak god mode, he doesn’t even get a look in in some of those categories compared to Van Basten. There is no need to denigrate one to promote the other: across the full spectrum of attributes, Ronaldo does not just run clear of Van Basten, and perhaps the only one more-rounded and eclectic as he, is Pelè himself, that is why Van Basten often has the moniker of being a universal striker adept in any system or method of playing, be that a constant stream of high crosses into the box, or the tightest of technical ground games. Ronaldo is a universal striker for a very different reason, because his ability makes him an unstoppable force in what he specialises in.

 

[Red the Bear]

The sad thing about van Basten is that there wasn't any signs of him slowing down in fact he was having one of his better seasons ration wise with 13 in 15 serie a games and 8 in 7 European games. As cappelo said his retirement was a misfortune for football.

His last game was one of the more memorable ones with a duped of Marseille with an appearance from our former golie.
For context he had the capability to go on to play till his mid 30s which he very well could have done considering how versatile he was.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I don’t know how anyone can post something like this with a straight face. As much as I rate Ronaldo and would have him in my ultimate xi, even at his peak-peak god mode, he doesn’t even get a look in in some of those categories compared to Van Basten. There is no need to denigrate one to promote the other: across the full spectrum of attributes, Ronaldo does not just run clear of Van Basten, and perhaps the only one more-rounded and eclectic as he, is Pelè himself, that is why Van Basten often has the moniker of being a universal striker adept in any system or method of playing, be that a constant stream of high crosses into the box, or the tightest of technical ground games. Ronaldo is a universal striker for a very different reason, because his ability makes him an unstoppable force in what he specialises in.

You are wrong here, Ronaldo wasn’t even a striker for majority of his career. And I completely disagree with you on your assessment of both player anyway. Let’s just move on from here as it’s clear we have completely different opinions on both players.

 

[Thelongsleevesofblomqvist]

Ibra higher than Benz??


What's the general consensus on Ibra vs Benz? Both great strikers but curious to know.

Benzema is very trendy right now. Great player though.

I knew Ibrahimovic would be questioned. He is exceptional, but I guess he will somehow always be both a bit overrated and a bit underrated.

 

[Fortitude]

You are wrong here, Ronaldo wasn’t even a striker for majority of his career. And I completely disagree with you on your assessment of both player anyway. Let’s just move on from here as it’s clear we have completely different opinions on both players.

There isn't going to be even a handful of people who would put Ronaldo over Van Basten, for say, an aerial chance of literally any kind; anyone who saw both also will not hesitate in saying who the better six-yard striker is, and so on and so forth.

Does that make Van Basten superior? Not for me, but there are clear facets he is superior in. It's not even a debate, certainly not one I've ever heard anyone even attempt to make before your outlandish post, anyway.

You're welcome to prove otherwise, but you can't just make things up. Van Basten has rivals like Seeler, Kocsis, Charles, Bierhoff, Riedle, Spencer and Pelè when it comes to aerial conversion, and of *any* kind (not just headers), only Seeler and Pelè from that list. In aerial discussion, Ronaldo does not even breach a top 50 amongst forwards. Why would you even think to say something to the contrary?

It actually invalidates him to just make him infallible. He's still my personal #1 striker, but he doesn't hold a candle to any of the above when it comes to aerial games and I could make that list extensive because it was not a forte of his, in fact, it was argued to be his weakness.

And I hope you aren't talking about C.Ronaldo here (but I think you are?) because the discussion wasn't about him.

 

[Thelongsleevesofblomqvist]

"Would you give him the number 9?"

A good enough definition of a striker?

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

And I hope you aren't talking about C.Ronaldo here (but I think you are?) because the discussion wasn't about him.

That changes everything
I was very confused about what you wrote about Ronaldo's aerial game at first because I thought it was about Cristiano

 

[Fortitude]

That changes everything
I was very confused about what you wrote about Ronaldo's aerial game at first because I thought it was about Cristiano

No, not at all. Very different discussion. I think this is crossed wires because the two Ronaldo's are almost polaric in this aspect.

 

[RedRonaldo]

There isn't going to be even a handful of people who would put Ronaldo over Van Basten, for say, an aerial chance of literally any kind; anyone who saw both also will not hesitate in saying who the better six-yard striker is, and so on and so forth.

Does that make Van Basten superior? Not for me, but there are clear facets he is superior in. It's not even a debate, certainly not one I've ever heard anyone even attempt to make before your outlandish post, anyway.

You're welcome to prove otherwise, but you can't just make things up. Van Basten has rivals like Seeler, Kocsis, Charles, Bierhoff, Riedle, Spencer and Pelè when it comes to aerial conversion, and of *any* kind (not just headers), only Seeler and Pelè from that list. In aerial discussion, Ronaldo does not even breach a top 50 amongst forwards. Why would you even think to say something to the contrary?

It actually invalidates him to just make him infallible. He's still my personal #1 striker, but he doesn't hold a candle to any of the above when it comes to aerial games and I could make that list extensive because it was not a forte of his, in fact, it was argued to be his weakness.

And I hope you aren't talking about C.Ronaldo here (but I think you are?) because the discussion wasn't about him.

To be honest, as good as Van Basten was, I don’t see anyone better than Ronaldo in their aerial games. He is on GOAT level in this aspect of his games afterall. At best they might be at similar level there, but that’s about it and that’s the only aspect from many you could argue against.

But my point being, as a player there are so many aspects of the game in which Ronaldo is clearly better at during their respective peak (pace, tricks, dribble, long shot, freekicks, athleticsm, running, movements etc), and I am not even talking about huge difference in terms of their stats during their peaks seasons.

There is just no way Ronaldo isn’t better player in their peaks. We could agree to disagree and move on from here. But I know for a fact almost everyone rates Ronaldo far above Van Basten in GOAT/best player ranking. But there is always some odd exception who disagree with everything, so I don’t really feel the need to have everyone agree on same thing.

 

[Pretzels81]

Words can't express how little sense that makes

Did Suárez manage to win 5 PL titles in 6 years?

 

[Fortitude]

To be honest, as good as Van Basten was, I don’t see anyone better than Ronaldo in their aerial games. He is on GOAT level in this aspect of his games afterall. At best they might be at similar level there, but that’s about it and that’s the only aspect from many you could argue against.

But my point being, as a player there are so many aspects of the game in which Ronaldo is clearly better at during their respective peak (pace, tricks, dribble, long shot, freekicks, athleticsm, running, movements etc), and I am not even talking about huge difference in terms of their stats during their peaks seasons.

There is just no way Ronaldo isn’t better player in their peaks. We could agree to disagree and move on from here. But I know for a fact almost everyone rates Ronaldo far above Van Basten in GOAT/best player ranking. But there is always some odd exception who disagree with everything, so I don’t really feel the need to have everyone agree on same thing.

As I said, I think wires are crossed here and you're talking about Cristiano.

 

[Andrade]

The difference between Lewandowski, Benzema and Suarez compared to Gerd Muller is that Muller has scored in multiple World Cup finals, European Championship finals and European Cup finals, he was far more of a clutch striker in the big games and big moments than them 3.

Not only that, but also Muller's overall numbers for club and country are pure insanity compared to the (very good) figures of the other 3. 68 goals in 62 international matches FFS. 34 goals in 35 European Cup games. That's alien stuff.

Different eras of course, but you'd be hard pressed to find a player in any era that was as prolific and clutch as Muller.

 

[Pretzels81]

Not only that, but also Muller's overall numbers for club and country are pure insanity compared to the (very good) figures of the other 3. 68 goals in 62 international matches FFS. 34 goals in 35 European Cup games. That's alien stuff.

Different eras of course, but you'd be hard pressed to find a player in any era that was as prolific and clutch as Muller.

And all that during the era of brutal tackles/mean defending.