How good was Ronaldo #9?

Exactly. His Inter side was shambles, and he managed to morally "win" Serie A in his first season against Juventus, who were far superior squad. I say that because in the deciding match, the ref doesn't blow the whistle on a clear penalty on him. And we all know that Juve got relegated years later .....

I mean, look at his teammates..


Pagliuca

Fresi
Taribo West
Colonnese
Zanetti

Moriero
Winter
Zé Elias
Cauet

Djorkaeff
Ronaldo

Cristiano never had to spend his prime playing with this utter dross, and Ronaldo to me morally won Serie A in 97-98 with this absurdly average team against an all-time great Juve with Del Piero, Zidane, Davids, Inzaghi etc

Instead he plays on a very stacked Madrid team that can just bag goals for fun, and he still only one 1 La Liga in 8 possible.

"Morally" win????

I've heard it all. Good to know we "morally" won the league in 2010.
 
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Exactly. His Inter side was shambles, and he managed to morally "win" Serie A in his first season against Juventus, who were far superior squad. I say that because in the deciding match, the ref doesn't blow the whistle on a clear penalty on him. And we all know that Juve got relegated years later .....

Just in case anyone doubts what terrible refereeing that was:

 
For 2 - 3 years he was the best player i have ever seen. He was a natural born finisher. He would stay fairly quiet for much of a game but when he got his chance he was devastating. I have never seen another player look so far above everyone around him. Maybe it contributed to his knee issues but his acceleration/agility made it look like other players were in slow motion.

He was way above Lewandowski, Suarez, Benzema, Aguero and Ibrahimovic. He was quite a bit better than C. Ronaldo. Messi has a major element to his game Ronaldo didn't have, but as a pure striker Ronaldo could dribble just as well, and was faster, stronger and a better finisher.

Put it this way, if you created an all time XI to play one game, Messi probably gets in, C. Ronaldo probably doesn't, but L. Ronaldo plays every time.
 
Stats wise yes he has insanely high numbers that seem unbelievable.

As a player he is not in the same league as Messi, R9 or even Zidane for that matter.

Those guys could drag their teams to victory when the going got tough and their team looked to someone to bail them out.

Cr7 can not do this and when his team have their backs up against the wall he is no where to be seen.

At United he was genuinely exciting but very inconsistent as well despite all the goals.

He was given complete freedom to do what he wanted without having a care in the world about helping the team.

Man United sacrificed a hell of a lot to get the most out of him which credit to Fergusson did work out very well in the end.

He is an efficient finisher with very good positioning but he can not win matches on his own and hasn't been able to for a long time.
In 07/08 CR7 was the singel most important player in a winning team since Maradona. That was an exceptional season, maybe he wasn't that consistent, but he made the difference in many big and difficult matches. Ronaldo was a beast, but never had a season like that and at the WC 02 he already was just a very good finisher.

Zidane is not even close. Great player for about 5 years, but not among many other greats. Wouldn't stand a chance of winning the player of the year award with CR7, Messi and Ibrahimovic competing. To me he's in the same category as Iniesta.
 
Stats wise yes he has insanely high numbers that seem unbelievable.

As a player he is not in the same league as Messi, R9 or even Zidane for that matter.

Those guys could drag their teams to victory when the going got tough and their team looked to someone to bail them out.

Cr7 can not do this and when his team have their backs up against the wall he is no where to be seen.

At United he was genuinely exciting but very inconsistent as well despite all the goals.

He was given complete freedom to do what he wanted without having a care in the world about helping the team.

Man United sacrificed a hell of a lot to get the most out of him which credit to Fergusson did work out very well in the end.

He is an efficient finisher with very good positioning but he can not win matches on his own and hasn't been able to for a long time.

You can't just make stuff up and pass it off as fact.
 
Cristiano had the better career, but Ronaldo9 was the better player. I know, sounds weird.. but if your life is on the line, and you need to win the game, I'd say 99% of people here pick Luis Ronaldo.
Then those people wouldn't have very good chances of survival.

If you could specify L Ronaldo 96-98, maybe it's a choice, if it's the average of their entire careers, it's not even close.
 
For 2 - 3 years he was the best player i have ever seen. He was a natural born finisher. He would stay fairly quiet for much of a game but when he got his chance he was devastating. I have never seen another player look so far above everyone around him. Maybe it contributed to his knee issues but his acceleration/agility made it look like other players were in slow motion.

He was way above Lewandowski, Suarez, Benzema, Aguero and Ibrahimovic. He was quite a bit better than C. Ronaldo. Messi has a major element to his game Ronaldo didn't have, but as a pure striker Ronaldo could dribble just as well, and was faster, stronger and a better finisher.

Put it this way, if you created an all time XI to play one game, Messi probably gets in, C. Ronaldo probably doesn't, but L. Ronaldo plays every time.

:lol: Have to do better to bait people...
 
He's the best player ever. Injuries stopped him being the 'greatest', but he showed what he had for long enough to be the best for me.
 
Maldini, Nesta, Cannavaro, Thuram, Desailly, Cafu, Montero, etc
No defender Messi and Ronaldo have faced are fit to lace these guys boots. This is why his goal record at Inter is superior to those two's.
 
Maldini, Nesta, Cannavaro, Thuram, Desailly, Cafu, Montero, etc
No defender Messi and Ronaldo have faced are fit to lace these guys boots. This is why his goal record at Inter is superior to those two's.
Except for the fact that he faced those guys in handful of games over the course of a season, not nearly enough to make up for the fact he only scored about half the goals Messi/C Ronaldo normally score in a season.
 
Except for the fact that he faced those guys in handful of games over the course of a season, not nearly enough to make up for the fact he only scored about half the goals Messi/C Ronaldo normally score in a season.

Yeah but look at the general state of the teams and the way they played not to mention the quality of midfielders (especially defensive) and goalkeepers too in Serie A around that time.

Defensively those teams were playing in a different universe to what we see in La Liga.
 
In 07/08 CR7 was the singel most important player in a winning team since Maradona. That was an exceptional season, maybe he wasn't that consistent, but he made the difference in many big and difficult matches. Ronaldo was a beast, but never had a season like that and at the WC 02 he already was just a very good finisher.

Zidane is not even close. Great player for about 5 years, but not among many other greats. Wouldn't stand a chance of winning the player of the year award with CR7, Messi and Ibrahimovic competing. To me he's in the same category as Iniesta.
That's a bold statement. I didn't have the fortune to watch Cantona, but having read his bio, his 95-6 season sounds every bit as talismanic as Ronaldo's 2007-8. I'd love to hear the thoughts of those watched Cantona.
 
Yeah but look at the general state of the teams and the way they played not to mention the quality of midfielders (especially defensive) and goalkeepers too in Serie A around that time.

Defensively those teams were playing in a different universe to what we see in La Liga.
That's fair, as I've said before, L Ronaldo had 2 seasons where he's at a comparable standard to where Messi/C Ronaldo have been for 7-8 seasons, and it was his time at Barca and first season at Inter.
 
That's a bold statement. I didn't have the fortune to watch Cantona, but having read his bio, his 95-6 season sounds every bit as talismanic as Ronaldo's 2007-8. I'd love to hear the thoughts of those watched Cantona.
Cantona probably played a bigger part in 95/96 than Ronaldo in 07/08, but we won the bigger prizes in 07/08.
 
:lol: Have to do better to bait people...

How so?

Playing across a midfield/forward line against the likes of Maradona, Cruyff, Garrincha and Di Stefano, Messi by no means stands out as an automatic choice. C Ronaldo doesn't get a look in.
 
Messi has been the best for longer than Ronaldo was but it might be worth mentioning that Ronaldo was doing at 20 what Messi was doing at 23 and Cronaldo 26. He was a different, compromised player after 98.
 
That's a bold statement. I didn't have the fortune to watch Cantona, but having read his bio, his 95-6 season sounds every bit as talismanic as Ronaldo's 2007-8. I'd love to hear the thoughts of those watched Cantona.
I did and I love Cantona way more than CR. I love players who are also dominant in the play itself, who run the show, who really tie a team together and dictate where to run and where to pass and pull all the strings. CR is more the star of the show, an important part of the show but not the one who runs the whole of the show. What they had in common was their habit of having the decisive contribution, to score the winner late on or play the decisive assist in the difficult matches, creating or scoring the goals that make the difference between 1 point and 3 points or K.O. or getting through.

But this is not about love, this is about class, the absolute top class, world class, the class only very few are in. In 95 English clubs had been out of Europe for about 10 years. This dit not only prevent United from competing for the biggest of prizes, it also had an impact on the level of football played in the PL. If you're not tested by the best, you're not going to be as good as you could be. With all due respect, Cantona is a bit of an English phenomenon, huge in an isolated league, but I don't think many outside England would consider him for lists of world's great.
 
No defender Messi and Ronaldo have faced are fit to lace these guys boots. This is why his goal record at Inter is superior to those two's.
Ffs. People are taking the piss now.

Ronaldo wasn't even top scorer in serie A.

His goalscoring exploits in that league can't begin to compare to breaking the all time scoring record in a season.
 
How so?

Playing across a midfield/forward line against the likes of Maradona, Cruyff, Garrincha and Di Stefano, Messi by no means stands out as an automatic choice. C Ronaldo doesn't get a look in.
C Ronaldo/Messi are better than the likes of Cruyff, Garrincha and Di Stefano, whilst L Ronaldo may or may not be ahead of the likes of Van Basten and certainly behind Pele.
 
C Ronaldo is better than the likes of Cruyff, Garrincha and Di Stefano, whilst L Ronaldo may or may not be ahead of the likes of Van Basten and certainly behind Pele.

:lol:
 
This thread is full of inaccuracy.
Ronaldo failed to hit the same number of goals in Serie A, as Oliver Bierhoff in his *worlds best ever player* period with Inter.
Some other guy saying Messi hasn't played vs any decent defenders when compared to Ronaldo vs Nesta and Cannavaro, right.... because Ferdinand and Vidic partnership were just... so bad in 09 when he took us apart. :confused:
 
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In his peak, comparable to Aguero, in terms of being an elite striker that had very little time out of form. He was either scoring, terrorising defences or injured. Obviously he won more and was in the best teams of the time so his status will always be above Aguero.

Without the injuries, Messi and Cristiano wouldn't be beating Pele and Maradona for the top spot in the history of the game though. It would have been Ronaldo's outright.
 
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C Ronaldo/Messi are better than the likes of Cruyff, Garrincha and Di Stefano, whilst L Ronaldo may or may not be ahead of the likes of Van Basten and certainly behind Pele.

:lol:
 
In his peak, comparable to Aguero, in terms of being an elite striker that had very little time out of form. He was either scoring, terrorising defences or injured. Obviously he won more and was in the best teams of the time so his status will always be above Aguero.

Without the injuries, Messi and Cristiano would be beating Pele and Maradona for the top spot in the history of the game though. It would have been Ronaldo's outright.

I must say I am confused. First you say he is comparable to Aguero, then you say if it wasn't for the injuries he would have all the records? I'm honestly asking because im confused.

Also, Aguero isn't anywhere near the level Ronaldo was on, no current striker is.
 
I must say I am confused. First you say he is comparable to Aguero, then you say if it wasn't for the injuries he would have all the records? I'm honestly asking because im confused.

Also, Aguero isn't anywhere near the level Ronaldo was on, no current striker is.

Comparable to Aguero in the style of when he's fit, he scores or damages opposition. There wasn't many spells of being off form, it was just a case of him not being fit.

If my OP read as if I'm saying Aguero is of a similar level to Ronaldo, please don't think that. That's my error with the wording.
 
Wasn't he called Calcio9 on one of the Fifa games?
 
When I saw Ronaldo at his peak, he was a beast. He was like a man playing against boys. A lot of people here getting upset that he's better then Messi but at their peaks, Ronaldo really was better. I'd say that besides Ronaldinho, he had the potential to be the greatest ever but his injuries got to him
 
When you play for Inter and then Milan, or Barcelona and later Real is quite realistic once you've changed colours of the clubs supporters will turn their back on you branding you as a traitor or whatever.

With Ronaldo there is no such thing, supporters from all his previous clubs think highly of him, I've yet to meet someone or read from someone negative stuff about him, people just like him since he really was that good.

Before injuries he was on the way to become best ever, after injuries he was like half a player than before yet still world class striker, unbeliavable really.

Here's video of Ibra looking at him before Inter-Milan match (shit music!):

:D
 
Sorry for this thread bump. I couldn't find the Ronaldo da Lima thread.

I stumbled upon this:



:drool:

It is a compilation of his best skills. Most highlights are in slow motion, so you get to see his phenomenal technique. Best part is that he did these things in fast pace, which already there makes him a phenomenon of the game. And these skills were used to find a solution in the situations that he was put in, not to showboat or act like a clown. It is a 15 min long compilation, so take your time, you don't have to see everything at once, although it is captivating already from the beginning.
 
Sorry for this thread bump. I couldn't find the Ronaldo da Lima thread.

I stumbled upon this:



:drool:

It is a compilation of his best skills. Most highlights are in slow motion, so you get to see his phenomenal technique. Best part is that he did these things in fast pace, which already there makes him a phenomenon of the game. And these skills were used to find a solution in the situations that he was put in, not to showboat or act like a clown. It is a 15 min long compilation, so take your time, you don't have to see everything at once, although it is captivating already from the beginning.

Best player I've seen live without a doubt, I was unlucky that I was born a few years too late to see Maradona in his pomp, but I did see a peak Ronaldo and he was mercurial.

Super unlucky he had so many issues with injuries otherwise Messi and the oily Ronaldo wouldn't even get mentioned as the world's best ever. Ronaldo had absolutely everything, pace, power, vision, unbelievable technique.

He had something Messi, C.Ronaldo, Zidane, Maradona etc didn't/don't have too - he was eminently likable. A true gent and very humble. Him and Ronaldinho I could watch daily and never get bored, whether that's on the pitch or in interviews. Nice blokes born with incredible gifts.
 
Best player I've seen live without a doubt, I was unlucky that I was born a few years too late to see Maradona in his pomp, but I did see a peak Ronaldo and he was mercurial.

Super unlucky he had so many issues with injuries otherwise Messi and the oily Ronaldo wouldn't even get mentioned as the world's best ever. Ronaldo had absolutely everything, pace, power, vision, unbelievable technique.

He had something Messi, C.Ronaldo, Zidane, Maradona etc didn't/don't have too - he was eminently likable. A true gent and very humble. Him and Ronaldinho I could watch daily and never get bored, whether that's on the pitch or in interviews. Nice blokes born with incredible gifts.
I think what was exceptional was the amount of times he'd have players trying to break his legs with slide takes and kicks but he never looked for the dive. He would take the kicks and fouls and brush them off. Only player I've seen do that to an extent is Messi.
 
R9 is the best forward and player that I've ever seen. I think his injuries were almost inevitable because he pushed the human body beyond its limits I feel like. He was incredibly strong, fast, and with sublime technique. The way he'd twist his body, with so much speed and force, the changes of directions, etc...I just think no human being can maintain this level of performance without the body breaking down quickly. Messi is shorter, slower, has a lower center of gravity, and isn't as stocky as R9 was so he's managed to maintain his style of play without injuries (once he got past his early muscle tears he'd get pre-Pep).

It was truly breathtaking to get to see R9 play in his prime, and so impressive to see him post-surgery being clearly a diminished player and yet still one of the best. There's no one that has come close to being as impressive to me since then, and I'll be surprised if that day comes, but Messi is definitely second on that list for me.