What tricks and skills? Running past a player using pace isn't dribbling my friend otherwise Dan James would be in the conversation and that video showing his best moments isn't do you any favours either. You're name is RedRonaldo, so there isn't really going to be any reasoning or balanced debate, considering I'm sure you're the same guy who said Ronaldo is a religion to you.
Ronaldo vs Ronaldo
- Thread starter altodevil
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What tricks and skills? Running past a player using pace isn't dribbling my friend otherwise Dan James would be in the conversation and that video showing his best moments isn't do you any favours either. You're name is RedRonaldo, so there isn't really going to be any reasoning or balanced debate, considering I'm sure you're the same guy who said Ronaldo is a religion to you.
Ronaldo was significantly better on the ball, Cristiano a more relentless and complete scorer. Ronaldo could carry a team's attack by himself, whereas Cristiano was more like the turbochanger in a F1 car. Floor raiser vs ceiling raiser
Empirically Ronaldo was the better player - he was just better at doing most things than Cristiano - but in terms of impact and effectiveness it's close enough I wouldn't argue with somebody taking Cristiano over Ronnie.
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Sorry, but that is is completely bs.
Football is about winning, especially if you play for a big team...efficiency and consistency matters.
The reason Ronaldinho and R9 aren't rated as high as Messi is cause they only were 'Messi' for 4 seasons at best, and after that they were super inconsistent and were ex-footballers by 32.
I grew up watching R9, but CR7 is the better player, if i want someone in my club to win trophies and perform week in and week out i would pick CR7 over R9 and Ronaldinho any day.
CR7 while not on Messi,Maradona, Pele or even Cruyff level of "skills", he belongs to the top 10 of history of football.
Just because he isn't best dribbler ever doesn't mean he can't be one of the greats... it's like saying that the only way to attract women is being handsome, therefore being funny, wealthy, smart, or having a great personality it's invalid...all that matter it's being handsome.
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He isn't wrong, many are falling for nostalgia here.
I grew up watching R9, and as talented as he was, after 2000 he was an inconsistent player.
If i had a club and i had to choose one player to perform week in and week out, there's no doubt i would choose CR7 over R9.
People are giving it to the Brazilian because they only remember his World Cup exploits and for the romanticism.
If I have the option to sign one for my club, I would pick CR7 everyday. If I have buy a ticket to watch either one when they are playing at the same time, I will pick Luiz everyday.
If I have the option to sign one for my club, I would pick CR7 everyday. If I have buy a ticket to watch either one when they are playing at the same time, I will pick Luiz everyday.
R9 after 1999 didn't even dribble much (because of his injury) and he become an inconsistent player.
After 1999 nobody would name R9 as top 3 player in the world anymore, and his Balloon D'Or in 2002 was thanks to winning the World Cup.
Cristiano, despiste not being as good as Messi, was the second best player in the world for more than 10 years, something R9 never achieved...not even close.
Some people in here are falling for nostalgia, it reminds me that now that i am in my early 30s i miss my high school days, despite back then not enjoying high school very much.
R9 in his teens and very early 20s was twice the player CR7 was at the same age, and that is just a fact. He was already a superstar by then, CR was just a talented young player who became one of the best in the world by 23/24 and then just looked after himself much better than R9 did for the rest of his career (and was much luckier with injuries). In terms of natural footballing ability, there is a significant gap between the two.
It’s a weird as heck post.
Let's double the bet:
Peruzzi
Nesta Costacurta Cannavaro Mihajlovic
Davids
Simeone Zidane
Del Piero
Weah Bierhoff
And we're still missing Verón, Totti, Zamorano, Salas, Boksic, Vieri, Desailly, Bergkamp, Signori, Conceicao...Nesta Costacurta Cannavaro Mihajlovic
Davids
Simeone Zidane
Del Piero
Weah Bierhoff
Ronaldo past 1999 wasn't even top 3 player in the world.
His Balloon D'Or in 2002 was because of the World Cup.
I watched him at his prime btw, to perform week in and week out i would take CR7, I'd pick only R9 only if my priority were not trophies, but entertain the match goer audience.
. Mighty fine XI nonetheless. Davids on for Rijkaard and Nesta for Baresi as they were more late 80s Serie A imo.You obviously didn't watch R9 that much otherwise you wouldn't be suggesting he lacks consistency and efficiency considering the records he broke. This is that same guy who in 185 professional appearances for clubs and country he scored over 167 goals by the time he was 21 leading to become the youngest Ballor'd winner of all time. At 17 years old, R9 was the youngest member of the Brazilian squad that won the 1994 FIFA World Cup. At the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he received the Golden Ball for player of the tournament, helping Brazil reach the final. He won a second World Cup in 2002 where he starred in a front three with Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. Ronaldo scored twice in the final, and received the Golden Boot as the tournament's top goalscorer. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, R9 also scored his 15th World Cup goal, which was a World Cup record at the time. So where you get this idea he lacked efficiency I don't know. Had he not suffered with serious injury he'd have just as many Ballor'd to his name as the likes of R7 or mess His injury was so serious and unfortunate the doctors in Milan kept telling he was at the risk of losing his leg and not be able to walk again let alone playing football. The fact he came back and won another ballor'd despite being older and being half the player he was shows how incredible player he was and why he is regarded higher in the list of footballing greats
R9 and Ronaldinho may have had shorter career for two different reasons alone, but they accomplished what was necessary during the time they played the game. And consistency doesn't equate to overall ability of a player when making a comparison. Just because a player had a longer career through better training and conditioning and the fortune of avoiding serious injury doesn't mean they are the superior player. You have to take into account also that R9 was playing in an era where he was up against the very best defenders of all time. Not mention the fact In the 90's there was much tougher challenges which were allowed and in spite of this he still dominated in the toughest leagues while not being in the best teams. R9 didn't have to play for the strongest team to prove he was the best. He could dribble passed players and leave them on the floor while running towards goal all by himself taking 4-5 defenders. R7 has never done that he's always relied on service by being in the dominant team, and has never won a international tournament award in his entire career.
So I don't know how from witnessing all this you'd pick CR7 over r9 or ronaldinho if you watched all three. Ronaldinho carried Barcalona' to a CL's win and Brazil to Fifa World Cup 2002 and scored some of the greatest goals in football. And I'm not just talking about dribbling, I'm talking about playmaking, influence, goalscoring and producing magic on the biggest stage.
R7 needed to be carried at United and Real Madrid who had the best players relative to the rest of the league when he played there. Without the likes of Rooney and Benzema doing the donkey work and letting him take all pens, free kicks his stats would be halved. He was a great goal scorer finisher no doubt, but all around player when judging overall ability he was good not great which is why he had to compensate by making his sole objective to stat pad even to the point of trying to nick cheap goals off his own teammates.
I like the post cause it is straight at the point about the massive overrating of Luis Ronaldo, and the 'what if a million things happened differently'.
But at the same time, it goes too far on the other direction. For example, Luis was definitely better than Batistuta, coming from a massive fan of Batistuta whose first and only original shirt I bought was a Batigol one.
I watched a lot of R9 actually, he was my fav player back then along with Zidane... just because i don't overrate him due to nostalgia it doesn't mean i didn't watch him.
R9 pre-1999 was better than CR7, after that he wasn't even a top 3 player in the world anymore, his balloon D'Or in 20002 was basically thanks to scoring in a WC, and btw Rivaldo was best brazilian player that World Cup.
R9 career is full of "IFs", we need to talk about what happened not "IF".
And R9 at Madrid had Zidane,Figo,Casillas,Hierro, and Roberto Carlos, he wasn't playing with mugs.
Too many excuses for R9, i get it guys life was better back then, no inflation, food was cheaper, real state was cheaper, happier times overall.
Dont try to use the nostalgia narrative on to me just because I destroyed your argument about consistency and efficiency when it comes to ability and performance. My judgement is based on performance levels and ability alone not longing for bygone era's but it's a nice deflection away from the fact CR7 has never shown r9 levels of ability in his entire career. Brining up the fact he was on the verge of losing his leg is not an excuse it's a reality
If any player is overrated it's CR7 and his statistics while ignoring what he actually provided on the pitch other than goals. It's a sick joke that he gets compared to the likes of R9 and even this era's Messi when it's clear his overall ability is not on their level
The fact there is a large portion of the masses who even go so far as to say he's better than Messi is insane, and shows how powerful his pr is considering messi has won every individual trophy there is to win for club and country including WC golden Ball, World cup Golden Boot, Copa Amaerica Best Player along with 6 ballon'dors( 4 in a row 6 in total)and now a world cup 2022, how's that for nostalgia?. All these while showing amazing playmaking ability, dribbling past entire teams defences and breaking the record for most goals scored in a season if you want to wank over stats
If you are in your early thirties and you watched R9 in his prime you were what like 8-10 years old. Are you sure you remember correctly? Also was it more of seeing R7 in your teens and nostalgia?
Who would you pick if you wanted to win a world cup?
I think people in this debate want to minimize the others accomplishments to prove who is right. Both were fantastic footballers. As to who was better it's hard to say as they both played diffrent rolls in their teams and in diffrent era's.
I feel like the real winner is me. Haha! As my football started with the 86 world cup. Seen alot of amazing players. Alot of amzing games. In the words of SAF "Football, bloody hell!"
I'm not the one who thinks that CR7 is at Messi's level...he isn't, never was.
But CR7 is ahead of Ronaldo Nazario, just because Ronaldo Nazario was better than Cristiano for 3 years (1996-1999) doesn't make him better player overall comparing careers.
Sorry, i talk about facts, not "IFs"...keep it real please, don't involve alternative endings like a capeshit Marvel movie.
I'd pick R9 for national team, and CR7 for club.
Not diminishing anything, Cristiano for me is ahead of R9 when comparing careers, R9 after 1999 wasn't a top 3 player in the world anymore.
Was R9 naturally more talented? Yes, he was, but his prime was too short, same for Ronaldinho.
When creating a ranking of the greatest footballers ever, you have to analyze entire career, and that's where R9 and Ronaldinho feel short.
"Ifs" shouldn't be counted when talking about what actually happened.
Some points here to consider. R9 was a real freak of nature but I think you are downplaying CR7 a bit. R9 had two maybe three incredible seasons and another 2-3 'very good' seasons. I understand that his 2-3 incredible seasons were almost untouchable but there is no way he can compare to CR7 career wise. You are making it like CR7 during his extremely long prime was some sort of Haaland type that just do tap ins and scores 99% inside the box. CR7 might not go past 5-6 players the way Messi or R9 did but he absolutely did his share of game control from the sides and mid field during his peak years at Madrid. CR7'S goal-scoring freak stats is also impossible to match by R9. Let's just say today's game is 'easier' to score so let's add another 50% goals to R9'S total goal tally during his top seasons, even than CR7'S stats still look extremely favorable against R9.
Also I don't get this 'glorified Lewandowski's insult. Lawa is one of the greatest strikers of his generation and should have been a Ballon DOR winner. If CR7 is a 'super version' of Robert Lawandowski that makes CR7 one of the greatest footballers of all time(which he is). I will actually take a 'super' version of Robert Lawa over a 10 year stretch than R9 if I was building a foundation for a club.
I keep hearing 'what could have been' if R9 never got injured. However, we don't know if he would have kept his insane peak as long as Ronaldo/Messi did. For all we know, he was just a early bloomer. We can only go by what did happen. Forget the names and you tell me which player you will choose
Player 1
10 year peak of very good/great seasons
Player 2
3 year peak of great seasons and maybe another 2 -3years of very good.
I wouldn't bother to look but just off the top of my head I remember Ronaldo(Cr7) with at least a dozen 'big game' performances in the knockout stages of the champions league. I'm sure I can find at least 20-30 games where CR7 dominated during the KO stages of UCL. I'm curious how many games in KO stages of UCL did R9 dominate.
This was a very very stupid thread.
Ronaldo9 was incredible, but feck me, he’s not in the same ball park for Cristiano’s prime.
Ronaldo9 was incredible, but feck me, he’s not in the same ball park for Cristiano’s prime.
Ronaldo touching pre-pubescent boys??
Thing is, there are easily 10 seasons of Cristiano where he was as good as peak R9.
I actually agree with @giorno that we never saw peak R9. If he would have reached his final form, he would have probably been the best ever. But, injuries followed by lack of professionalism meant that he never became that player.
Prime quality wasn't the issue for R9, his 3 peak years(1996-1999) were insane in terms of quality, the problem is that...well, there were just 3 years, after that(between injuries, overweight, and inconsistency) he was hardly a top 3 player in the world anymore despite his immense talent.
Let's say you had a must win game at hand you had put either version of Ronaldo in the team, which one would you choose?
It could be argued that r9 never reached Cristiano's consistency in those 2 peak years of his but than again no one has bullied defenders like him since.
Quite the pickle.
It could be argued that r9 never reached Cristiano's consistency in those 2 peak years of his but than again no one has bullied defenders like him since.
Quite the pickle.
No!I've seen this question before, but it is a bit of a nonsense question IMO. Both of them (and every other greats) had awesome matches, and also absolute stinkers. I do not see how a career spanned over a decade can be reduced to a single hypothetical game.
Just a mental exercise of sorts, a lot more is involved in a game than a single player(tactics being the main factor) but it's fun to muse about whichever player will likely have a better game than most, the likes of messi and cr7 had freakish consistency during their peak years so that worms in their favor.
I'm sure there are a good number of people in this thread who entered that competition
Sure, sure, I get that, still find a weird.
Statistically (if it is outside of World Cup), it has to be Cristiano. In world cup, Luis.
If R9 pre injury was to play against a prime Cristiano and both had similar levels of sides... lets just say hypothetically Brazil 98 vs Real Madrid or United 07/08 - I guarantee you R9 is coming out of that looking the far more impressive player.
He was on another level in terms of talent, could not take your eyes of him (mixture of Mbappe/Dinho) and for me that is saying something as I think Cristiano's talent gets underplayed massively (he also used to get bums of seats in his prime).
Having said that, Cristiano productivity is insane and I believe consistency and hunger is a talent in of itself in addition to Ronaldo's ability to withstand marking over all those years and still remain so relevant at the highest level. He also had a solid entertainment output himself especially at United - did we not enjoy watching him? I know I did.
So for me overall if I had to pick a player to build a side around it is going to be CR7 and thus he's the overall greater player but I'm not going to lie and say he was more talented or enthralling than R9 at his peak because that guy was a genuine extraterrestrial who could give the best defenders ever genuine trouble and make them look helpless whereas Cristiano can edge out the best but it isn't quite as dominant.
Even as a fat bastard he scored a hat trick past a strong United side away from home...
He was on another level in terms of talent, could not take your eyes of him (mixture of Mbappe/Dinho) and for me that is saying something as I think Cristiano's talent gets underplayed massively (he also used to get bums of seats in his prime).
Having said that, Cristiano productivity is insane and I believe consistency and hunger is a talent in of itself in addition to Ronaldo's ability to withstand marking over all those years and still remain so relevant at the highest level. He also had a solid entertainment output himself especially at United - did we not enjoy watching him? I know I did.
So for me overall if I had to pick a player to build a side around it is going to be CR7 and thus he's the overall greater player but I'm not going to lie and say he was more talented or enthralling than R9 at his peak because that guy was a genuine extraterrestrial who could give the best defenders ever genuine trouble and make them look helpless whereas Cristiano can edge out the best but it isn't quite as dominant.
Even as a fat bastard he scored a hat trick past a strong United side away from home...
The greatest players of all time also happen to be great dribblers, Messi Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Best, Eusebio so how can it be overrated?
You say no one dribbles no more but the very best still do, lets Look at recent B’allon dor winners, Benzema good dribbler although probably does it less than he used to due to his positioning and age, he literally formed his game based off R9 though so there’s the clue.
Modric one of the best dribbling CMs around, Messi goes without saying, then you’ve got Mbappe and Neymar who would probably round up the current top 5 players in the world alongside the names I’ve mentioned before.
Posts like this just make me laugh there is not a footballer who has existed who this comment can be made for in regards to R9‘s prime, let alone Cristiano.
Good post.
How can you guarantee a hypothetical speculation that cannot be proven right or wrong?
Because I know in a one off game, assuming both at their best and in strong sides... R9 is just the better player. I saw both of them from youth to end of career, both my favourite footballers etc - theres no bias for me in this debate.
Like I said, in my analysis I think Cristiano overall edges it if I am picking a top 10 of all time taking into account every factor including mental attributes and physical (if we are also giving weight to attributes such as endurance) but in a one off match, R9 is just levels above. He's one of the most freakish talents to ever walk on a football pitch - The Jonah Lomu/Young Mike Tyson of football.
A guy who possesses elite elite level Brazillian street skills (not the show off stepovers Cristiano does - but genuinely game breaking skills which can twist even the best defenders in and out and he's got elastico's and all sorts in locker), a very skilful range of finishing, a strong hold up player (he can ride tackles and not just dive and get freekicks) and his passing and link up game is just superior (more likely to find killer through balls) - generally a better team mate than Cristiano whose passing game was always distinctly average bar his crossing which was world class (but underutilised).
You just have to see the interviews of guys who worked with R9 or who played against him, even Zidane was like this guy on a different planet. They talk of him with such reverence. No one does that with Cristiano unless they're scared he is going to cut them off from his whatsapp group and even if they are being nice they generally talk about his dedication to training and mindset.
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Summed it all up perfectly. Couldn't have said it better. He truly was the Mike Tyson of football, meanwhile CR7 is the Joe Calzaghe of football.
Hollyfield would have been a better comparison than Calzaghe
Nah Holyfield never padded his record and waited to age out fighters past their prime. Calzaghe padded his record and received ridiculous levels of hype due to retiring unbeaten
I know but Cristiano is top 5-10 footballers of all time, it’s incredibly harsh to compare him with Calzaghe
Hes a true great of this sport.