As I recall he had plenty of assists too, don't know the exact number but his end product was immense that year.
Ronaldinho
- Thread starter Raoul
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As I recall he had plenty of assists too, don't know the exact number but his end product was immense that year.
We already have lazy Bulgarian.......we don't need an even lazier Brazilian....
Does anyone enjoy watching Messi play for Barca as much as they did Ronaldinho?
I remember watching those Chelsea/Barca games with friends and relatives who normally couldn't care less about football but wanted to watch Ronaldinho and loved it. I just don't get the same emotions watching Messi...
I remember watching those Chelsea/Barca games with friends and relatives who normally couldn't care less about football but wanted to watch Ronaldinho and loved it. I just don't get the same emotions watching Messi...
It's true and he's a Barca legend and rightly so, but when the ego's started spiraling out of control, he failed to control it, it was very clear by his last season he had completely lost the dressing room.
The players didn't even look like they were trying anymore. When they got destroyed 4-1 in the Bernabeu later that season, with Rijkaard looking like there was tears in his eyes as every goal flew in, the lack of effort and chemistry was so obvious. Messi looked like he was trying to take on the whole team on his own, Xavi got himself stupidly sent off, he had lost the team.
Against Mallorca too, Barca were 2-0 up at home and ended up losing the game 3-2 because of a complete lack of effort by his players.
...And Rijkaard, well he looked hopeless, like a man who had just completely run out of ideas.
Ronnie was a magician with the ball. His dribbling/passing skills were really out of this world. You never know what he's about to do next. He had really an unlimited repertoire when it came to expressing himself. Messi has great dribbling skills his height is advantage for him, cause the low center of gravity makes him very tough to tackle.
I don't think anyone could match Ronnie when it comes to creativity on the field after Maradona, bar fat Ronaldo.
I know I don't.Messi is more direct and more efficient but he has less magic about him, he's never impressed or left me wondering the way Ronaldinho used to do.
You put Ronaldinho in any kinda context and he would still perform well (specially against physical english teams in the CL) whereas Messi hasn't showed this ability.
Ronaldinho was more exciting back in the day, he just had this aura about him, his first touch of the football would be greeted by an ovation from the Camp Nou, he as truly the dogs testicles.
To be honest Messi was more exciting in the 08/09 season than last, and when he first broke into the Barca team as an 18 year old, that was when he was at his most excitng, because he played like a naive teenager trying to take everybody on, an more often than not he would succeed but feck up his end product.
Messi is getting a bad press here
Damn right the magic and emotion is still there. I still can't fathom how he can move so quickly with the ball seemingly glued to his boot. What he does is beyond what any other current player can do
If you think differently far enough but you're surely in a minority
Damn right the magic and emotion is still there. I still can't fathom how he can move so quickly with the ball seemingly glued to his boot. What he does is beyond what any other current player can do
If you think differently far enough but you're surely in a minority
Not really tbh, you can see that Robben has a bastardized version of Messi's style and I'm not saying it because they're both left footed but what he can do on the ball is not beyond other players in terms of ability.
2:54 and 3:20, there's only one player who can put a football under a spell like that, and it's Messi, Robben's close control can never compare
In terms of ability, Messi is beyond, I still remember this match vividly, Messi was actually playing like he was possessed
Brilliant description that bold bit.
This is what worries me about football nowadays - you see less and less instinct, vision, class or magic and the leading lights of the game now seem to be 'direct and efficient' as you say... Guys like Ronaldo and Messi are great tools for managers to use (stick them on the pitch, wind them up and watch them go...) but seem to lack the initiative to dominate games on their own.
I think this is definitely why they all fizzled out at the World Cup. They flourish for their club teams which are built around them, but put Messi or Ronaldo in a new environment, new team, against teams prepared to play very negatively against them and they struggle as they don't have the craft to call upon that previous generations did. I think players now seem to have initiative coached out of them in favour of pure athleticism and efficiency. Rooney is perhaps the best example - incredible at Euro 2004 when he hadn't a fecking clue what he was doing or how he was doing it but completely and utterly hopeless in 2010 when he's had that insane instinct messed around with... I understand that had to happen for the sake of his PL career but it's to England's loss - he'll always struggle to make the impact he could have on the international stage.
I could swear I've seen Iniesta do this sort of stuff time and time again.It's brilliant close control but it's not unique in its genre.What Messi does is not magical or mind blowing for me, it's just the basis of football (keep the ball close to you) applied ruthlessly.
Initeresting point there
Just watch the whole video, Kouroux, there's even more moments of genius, he's clearly got the best close control in world football, he can be going full speed, and kill the ball and change directon, like Wenger said, he's a playstation.
The only player who rivals him to control has to be Ronaldinho, and that's a tough one. Iniesta isn't in the same league
Oooh, don;t know about that. Iniesta has an unbelievable pair of feet - saw him displaying jawdropping close control this WC...
I've watched the video well before tonight and I know the exact content.It's brilliant stuff but am I amazed with it ? No because it's more or less stuff I've seen done by many players throughout the years, it's brilliant stuff like I said.
I prefer to watch a guy like Ronaldinho who is a "creator" according to my criteria.Players who could blew literally blew my mind on every single match.
I disagree about Messi having better close control than Iniesta, it's just that Messi is faster with the ball than him.Completely different things
I prefer to watch a guy like Ronaldinho who is a "creator" according to my criteria.Players who could blew literally blew my mind on every single match.
I disagree about Messi having better close control than Iniesta, it's just that Messi is faster with the ball than him.Completely different things
agree to disagree, in my opinion Iniesta has amazing control but Messi is on another level, infact Iniesta's touch let him down quite a few times this World Cup, especially against Paraguay
I've seen Giggs do it in a European match either last year or the one before, forgot.
Yes, Giggs could also easily do it and specially during his younger years.It's great control of the ball as not many players can do it.
This magic is gone tho.
0:17: where can you see someone withstanding that kicking nowadays?
0:35 - excellence.
0:48 - how about that for close control.
1:02 - again - most of the dribblers now would throw themselves in the box after a tackle like that.
1:44...
2:16 - that was Gattuso I think.
It's just the way he does it so effortlessly makes it so amazing.
You can't compare Messi dribbling skill, incredible as they are, to that.
You need to repost that video Enigma...
Edit: working now.
Edit: working now.
2:42 in that vid is pretty cool - he'd have got killed if he tried that in the PL...
That's not what people are referring to by 'magic'. Ronaldinho, I think, was certainly more imaginative, inventive and spontaneous than Messi. He seemed to invent ways of getting past people on the spot. That's what people mean by magic, rather than ball control...
I think half the attraction of Ronaldinho was that he was having as much fun playing as we were watching...
I love 3:08. just so fecking cocky/confident/sexy
no homo
no homo
Look lads!
Messi is so good, he doesn't have to do anything to beat you, he just looks at you and whispers 'fall down' like it's a wwf script.
Nah in all seriousness, Dinho was more entertaining but it's not far off
Messi is so good, he doesn't have to do anything to beat you, he just looks at you and whispers 'fall down' like it's a wwf script.
Nah in all seriousness, Dinho was more entertaining but it's not far off
He was a bloody genius. A truly remarkable talent. Creativity, technique, passing, crossing, balance.
0:17:
, the guy tried to break his leg or what ?
0:35 - excellence.
You said it all
0:48 - how about that for close control.
1:02 - again - most of the dribblers now would throw themselves in the box after a tackle like that.
Ouch, it's painful for a defender to be left on the ground like that and it was twice he got tackled viciously
1:44...
No comment indeed
2:16 - that was Gattuso I think.
Gattuso was his favorite target
3:22 You missed that nutmeg on Gattuso
At the end of the day it's down to preference but between Ronnie and Messi, there's only one that makes me dream.How I would love to humiliate my friends like that when we play
, the guy tried to break his leg or what ?0:35 - excellence.
You said it all
0:48 - how about that for close control.
1:02 - again - most of the dribblers now would throw themselves in the box after a tackle like that.
Ouch, it's painful for a defender to be left on the ground like that and it was twice he got tackled viciously
1:44...
No comment indeed
2:16 - that was Gattuso I think.
Gattuso was his favorite target
3:22 You missed that nutmeg on Gattuso
At the end of the day it's down to preference but between Ronnie and Messi, there's only one that makes me dream.How I would love to humiliate my friends like that when we play
That's why, as good as he is for Milan, it's still pretty sad watching when you remember what he used to be, mainly because it's mostly his own fault.
This was truly his last game on top of the World
Messi's devastating in a very attractive way, he's a special player who's immensely gifted, but Ronaldinho just made the game, I dunno, fun.
I'd agree with Kouroux and BL, Messi's ruthless in a way Ronaldinho never was but he lacks the same magic for me. He'll dribble past 4 players and I'll be amazed but it doesn't compare to Ronaldinho passing to someone off his back, or controlling it on his hip. That's magic.
I'd agree with Kouroux and BL, Messi's ruthless in a way Ronaldinho never was but he lacks the same magic for me. He'll dribble past 4 players and I'll be amazed but it doesn't compare to Ronaldinho passing to someone off his back, or controlling it on his hip. That's magic.
I remember that game against Milan - some true rape moments in that, incredible.
What's happened to Ludovic Guily anyone?
What's happened to Ludovic Guily anyone?
This goal was fecking amazing!
Messi can go on and be a legend in football, bigger than Ronaldinho if he keeps his level for like another 4-5 years. But, IMO, he could never be the same artist as Ronnie on the pitch.
Messi's height, his acceleration and pace is advantage over Ronaldinho. Ronnie didn't have the same start as fat Ronaldo and Messi. He didn't rely on pace or acceleration to go past his opponent. If you have to man mark him it's tougher IMO as when in his prime, he'd still find a way to go past you. You can't think only of the traditional things, Ronaldinho had extraordinary style, alike Ronaldo. As for Messi the thing is - you simply know what he's gonna do, picking one direction with his steering type of dribbling, yet you can't do anything about it.
However English sides has proved to handle Messi well in the past. Ronaldinho simply destroyed any opposition in his best years - Italian defence(Milan), English(Chavs), Spanish(Madrid)...
In the end Messi probably would go down as the better player and would achieve more, but for me he doesn't have that rare "magic" that someone produces once in a while(read like Bergkamp against Newcastle, or Ronnie occasionaly).
Just checked - he's 34 and apparently still playing for PSG.
I always rated him actually - brilliant option for Barca to have off the bench and I remember him doing real damage as a substitute.
Can't believe he only got 17 games for France...
Pirlo was well and truly raped, and there was so many witnesses
So effortlessly he erased Pirlo's pressure.
I don't know why they don't have a better angle, but he gave this pass in the Semi Final and it carved Milan's defence