Neymar vs Ronaldinho: Who was the better player?

Who was the better player

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Fortitude

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Regulus Arcturus Black said:
No-one implied he was just a passenger, nor was Raheem Sterling at City, but make no mistake, he was lucky to play there.
Now obviously Neymar was a much better player than Sterling, but of course he was lucky to play in such a great side. In a similar sense I’ve also argued Van Nistelrooy was extremely unlucky to play in such a shit Manchester United era, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.

And no mate, no one player “carried that Barca team” and nor did two players. This was a side where Suarez and Iniesta regularly outclassed Neymar, in the 2015 treble year Suarez , it had prime Busquets, Alba and Dani Alves, but feck me, he had one great comeback game.

I’ll also add that Suarez, like Ronaldinho, did something Neymar never did, leaving and elevating a club like Atletico to a title after so almost doing similar with Liverpool. Nothing about Neymar’s career matches anything like that.
And yes, Brazil with peak Ronaldinho would always be a better team than with peak Neymar, no question. You’re massively underrating Ronaldinho’s best in the World by far, peak period.
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This is a discussion that is well overdue as it has been one of those niggling back and forths on here for years now.

I’m wondering if an objective discussion is actually possible, given how many hate Neymar and are dismissive of his ability and achievements.

I don’t think Ronaldinho needs any introduction, but it’s worth putting forth that Neymar is acknowledged as being a component in one of, if not the greatest attacking frontline in history.

But yeah, who takes it for you, and why? :confused:
 
Fortitude said:
This is a discussion that is well overdue as it has been one of those niggling back and forths on here for years now.

I’m wondering if an objective discussion is actually possible, given how many hate Neymar and are dismissive of his ability and achievements.

I don’t think Ronaldinho needs any introduction, but it’s worth putting forth that Neymar is acknowledged as being a component in one of, if not the greatest attacking frontline in history.

But yeah, who takes it for you, and why? :confused:
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No comparison IMO.

Neymar was nowhere near as important to the team as Ronaldinho was to his Barca side.
 
It's quite impossible to vote against Ronaldinho as he was one of a kind and for his gameplay and the emotions he brought, he will always be remembered as one of the greatest. It's also true that he was more of a one-man-carry in Barcelona when he joined compared to Neymar, and he has the WC. So the answer is probably Dinho, his peak was higher (and in fact among the highest peaks we've ever seen in football), he's more of a cult figure and he has the Ballon d'Or + WC to his name.

Though Neymar is vastly underrated and was a bit unlucky/unwise with his career. Injuries, questionable professionalism and joining the mess of PSG ruined his reputation, which I guess also partially applies to Ronaldinho, but with Neymar being outshone in Barca by Messi and surrounded by a couple of other world-class players, he never really had the chance to cement his legacy as the best in the world. He was immense and a joy to watch.
 
My vote goes to the technical Brazilian who's played in Spain and France.
 
I just don’t see any World in which Neymar joins Barca after them finishing 6th and being in an absolute mess and is the catalyst that takes them right to the top of World football within a couple of years and completely changes the destiny of the club.

Neymar had often been overshadowed by both Messi AND Suarez, and had that PsG game where he finally looked like he might be ready to take the next step and become something great, but he was shite in the next round as they got twatted by Juve and then he followed that by semi retiring himself ages 25.

I think to be considered a great that has to be something in your career where people say that they have never seen anything like that before, and Ronaldinho’s first three years Barcelona are amongst the greatest and most mind blowing I’ve ever seen in my life. Had he the bloody Bernabeu giving him a standing ovation for fecks sake.
 
Even if it's Ronaldinho it's way closer than the poll is showing.
 
Dinho. On an empirical level, like if you made them for a videogame, they're pretty much equal. Dinho however did more in his career than Neymar. Part of it might be bad luck on the latter's part, but doesn't change anything. One transformed a banter team into the a CL winner, the other didn't. Also Dinho was quite simply more entertaining, easier to like. And he got a standing ovation at the Bernabeu
 
Neymar was better but people aren't ready for that conversation. Ronaldinho has a much bigger cultural impact, but that's it.
 
golden_blunder said:
Was Ronaldinho the last great football entertainer?
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Blasphemy
antony-antony-manunited.gif
 
I voted Ronaldinho for his peak. It was shorter lived than Neymar but Ronaldinho's prime was insane.
 
Scandi Red said:
Yeee, wake up sheeple!!
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Regulus Arcturus Black said:
”I’m right but 95% of people don’t wanna hear it”.
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golden_blunder said:
How do you come to that conclusion?
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Neymar had a similar magic to his game but was more efficient.

Both had arguably short peaks, except for Neymar it was just switching to a weaker league, but he was the same player for many more years after Barca, whereas Ronaldinho was simply done after the 06/07 season, at 27.

Ronaldinho could disappear for weeks or months in an era before social media, and the criticism wasn't anything like it would be today. People not realizing it was a weaker era + that the best players of the past weren't more consistent either, leads to them getting heavily overrated when compared to the greats of the last 10-15 years.

Neymar had comfortably better numbers in La Liga + the Champions League, especially the latter. Same goes for Ligue 1 but I don't think it's necessary to include that. Without Messi and Ronaldo he wins multiple Ballon d'Ors too. And if Messi and Ronaldo were present, it's doubtful Ronaldinho would've won one tbh.

And Neymar being lazy on the pitch is just a stereotypical myth that couldn't be further from the truth. His work-rate off the ball was actually unusually high for an attacking player of his quality.

You can bring up the national team and international achievements, but Neymar was a weak Brazil's talisman for at least a decade and had no chance to achieve anything without him, Ronaldinho was one of many diamonds in an overpowered Brazil team.

And on club level, Neymar played in a much tougher era in Europe (2013-2023), than Ronaldinho did (2001-2011), but still produced better numbers.
 
I voted for both but I think Barca fans would be the better judge on who was better.

I suspect Ronaldinho's peak was higher and Neymar had the higher potential. I think Ronaldinho would have shined equally bright if him and Messi were both at their peak, but not Neymar.
 
It's personal preference really.

I prefer Ronaldinho.

Better doesn't really come into it, it's subjective, they were both top class players, but Ronaldinho just had something extra. Could never see Neymar the same way, great player, but he just didn't have the same impact. Maybe it was because he just played like a diving whiny little scrote. Or maybe I was gone past that stage of players making a big impression by the time he came along.
 
Weirdly enough even though the question is supposed to force us to reevaluate Neymar's legacy in an objective manner, it'll end up achieving the opposite and this will end up as a Neymar-bashing thread, I'm afraid.

The gap isn't that big between the two, be it their peak or their overall career, but Ronaldinho is still clearly ahead. You can argue that Neymar got unlucky to compete with Messi & Ronaldo for Ballon d'Or (otherwise he probably would've won one*) and to represent a much weaker Brazilian generation on the international stage (Ronaldinho was great in the 2002 World Cup-winning campaign but he was far from being that team's main man at that point) but it's hard to look past Dinho's shiny awards that only confirm the eye test.

* it's not as easy as simply removing Messi & Cristiano from these lists, which would've meant that Neymar would've won it in 2015 as his success was intertwined with Messi... but it's not a stretch of imagination to think of him as a potential Ballon d'Or winner in any other era

Neymar vs Kaká is a better comparison stature-wise even though stylistically there's much more overlap between Neymar and Ronaldinho (and he should've been his spiritual successor).
 
Neymar was absolutely quality in his last season at Barca, which wasn't the best campaign for the Catalonia club.

Also, Any accusation of Neymar being unwilling to put in the graft were dispelled that season, more so than the previous campaign.
He really carried Barca that season with his performances.

Enjoyed them both though. Such immense talents.
Neymar could arguably go down as the game's last entertainer.
 
Scandi Red said:
You're right, I wasn't ready for this conversation.
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It's fine if you think the mid-2000s were a more entertaining and enjoyable era, but it's laughable to believe that the level of football was anywhere near what it is today, or the era Neymar played in. It's much more efficient now, and tactically light years ahead.
 
I would also add probably there is some bias due to Neymar moving to PSG and then Saudi for a large part of his career.

Growing up I'd religiously watch La Liga on Sky and see a lot of Ronaldinho. Since Neymar spent so much of his prime in Ligue Un, I have watched him less frequently that could also be swaying my decision to some extent.
 
Rojofiam said:
It's fine if you think the mid-2000s were a more entertaining and enjoyable era, but it's laughable to believe that the level of football was anywhere near what it is today, or the era Neymar played in. It's much more efficient now, and tactically light years ahead.
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I don’t have the stats at hand, but I’m fairly sure the top teams now score at a much higher rate than anything like the last 40 years right? I’m also fairly sure in the top top teams amass points on a scale far on what we seem previously too?
Or do I have that completely wrong?
 
Think the poll is swayed somewhat both by Neymar being so extremely dislikeable and Ronaldinho having a "football isn't as entertaining as it was in my day" appeal for a certain stripe of middle aged football fan.

It's a much closer argument than the poll suggests. I'd also be curious to know what the perception of them both is in Brazil.

That said, I'd probably still narrowly opt for Ronaldinho. Mostly because while Neymar should notionally have the advantage of a longer peak, I find it difficult to put much weight on anything he did in the six seasons at PSG.
 
In 15 years time it will be obvious Neymar was the better player. If he didn't decide going to France, it wouldn't be a debate now.

He has better numbers, even at R10's peak.
 
the poll results don't mean Ronaldinho was 20 times better than Neymar. it simply means the difference between the two is clear enough that there isn't much to debate.
 
Rojofiam said:
It's fine if you think the mid-2000s were a more entertaining and enjoyable era, but it's laughable to believe that the level of football was anywhere near what it is today, or the era Neymar played in. It's much more efficient now, and tactically light years ahead.
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I really don’t think that’s true. Football is different but it’s not like there’s not still a gulf between the richest teams and those below. Tactically I’m not sure many, if any teams, you can say are light years ahead of teams like Ancelotti’s Milan, Pep’s Barca, Mou’s Inter to name three completely different styles from that time. Most of the best teams today are still playing variations of 433, it’s not like there are groundbreaking tactics revolutionising football outside of fitness/conditioning. We’ve been rehashing the same game for decades and there’s nothing wrong with that.
 
I think Neymar is probably Ronaldinho’s equal ability and performance wise, maybe even better all round game but Ronaldinho is far more iconic and was my favourite player growing up so I can’t bring myself to vote for Neymar.
 
Bole Top said:
the poll results don't mean Ronaldinho was 20 times better than Neymar. it simply means the difference between the two is clear enough that there isn't much to debate.
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But that isn't correct. The difference is certainly debatable, hence @OP's original post.

Perception is faltering Neymar a lot in these discussions and bolstering Dinho.
 
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