I agree with you completely. Utterly absurd to say Cristiano’s peak was above Maradona. He wins in terms of longevity and efficiency, his achievements are huge in the game, but Maradona was a level above. Personally I think Luis Ronaldo at his peak was a level above Cristiano too. Certainly, with that controversy aside, Messi, Pele and Maradona stand alone as the greatest three players ever. For me greatness encapsulates everything, and Ronaldo lacked that genius with the ball that the other three had.
My personal list in order is:
1. Maradona
2. Pele
3. Messi
4. Luis Ronaldo
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Romario
7. Ronaldinho
After that the margins are so fine that it’s hard to separate the next best 20 or so players. I just feel those players had something extra special that is almost impossible to replicate, and their peaks were all so extremely staggering as to stand them apart. Romario isn’t one that gets mentioned so high on people’s lists usually, but for me he is the best finisher of all time, and had a variety of finishing and explosiveness that I haven’t ever seen replicated.
Ronaldinho is the greatest pure entertainer I have ever seen. Played with a joy that you just don’t see anywhere else. His ball control, eccentricity, flair, dribbling were other worldly at his peak, truly magical an untouchable. Maybe the player I most enjoyed watching in my lifetime.
Luis Ronaldo was just an absolutely force of nature, it was a massive shame that his knees were destroyed, but prior to that I have never seen a more complete forward who was a one man forward line. He was just terrifying. If he hadn’t had the injury problems he did, I don’t think it is remotely controversial that he would’ve racked up Messi/Ronaldo numbers over his career. On pure talent he was a level above Cristiano, and was only held back by his injuries.
After that there are so many players that I have loved watching down the years that are hard to place. Michael Laudrup was an absurdly gifted and lavishly talented footballer, who was like poetry in motion. Platini, Cryuff, Baggio, Rivaldo, Stoichkov, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Matthaus all absurdly good (not saying all the same level) and whom I all revered growing up from my Dad waxing lyrical about them, or players who I had the privelege of watching at their peak. Bergkamp was another player who I always admired as more of an artist of the game than the sort of robotic, efficient machine that gets the plaudits these days. I have always been drawn to appreciating players who play with beauty as much as they do ruthless efficiency. That’s why Cristiano will never be above Maradona or the other three I mentioned. He was brilliant at doing everything with incredible precision and efficiency, but he was also selfish and lacked that magical x-factor. He needed service far more than the others, who were all able to do it by themselves, against whatever odds.
