Where does Cristiano Ronaldo rank in the All time list?

[Dr. Dwayne]

Or magnified a bit too?
Was duncan edwards as good as the legend goes?

Its kind of impossible to say because football in the early 90's was entirely different to today's game, forget what it was like 60 years ago.
The balls are lighter, more aerodynamic, the pitches are a hell of a lot better.
The clampdown on tackles from behind and sliding tackles in general and then the fitness levels. They were just different games.
People cant even decide which of messi and ronaldo is better. Trying to compare either to Best or Pele is futile.

I voted him top 10 anyway. Think quite a few players have a fair shout ahead of him and he probably end up pushed out to 10th or 12th, if i actually sat down and tried to make the list.

Indeed. Pele's legend in particular shows no signs of fading.

Football has definitely evolved in so many ways that comparisons are rather difficult between eras. Maybe instead of an ordered list we should consider players in a Pantheon of Football Legends so as not to diminish anyone's contributions to the game and its history.

 

[fontaine]

I always hate these discussions, its always about stats, goals, etc.

Listen, fella. What could the player do with the ball, were you terrified of him?

I always cheer against Madrid, so I know this experience. In tight,big games, like Atl Madrid, Juve etc C.Ronaldo simply doesn't scare me. Like, I never feel "damn, this guy is going to take over". I'm actually glad when he has the ball sometimes.

I don't give a shit for his 50 goals against Getafe's and whatnot.

Its the eye test. Luis Ronaldo, Zidane, Mess are big game players, players that gave you actual fear when cheering against. C.Ronaldo just doesn't give me that feeling. That's why he's in the 10-15 range for me..

 

[We need an rvn]

Top 10

Combination of the fact he's done nothing on an international level of note is a big one for me (before anyone shouts neither has Messi,he helped get them to the wc final which is more than Ronnie has done)

Messi, Zidane and Pele for me...then a flood of players like best, Maradona, pushkas, Ronaldo, THE Ronaldo, Maldini all fighting it out around that section

 

[fontaine]

I can understand why people rank Messi, Maradona or Pele ahead of Cristiano, but Luiz Ronaldo?

How long was he at his peak? 2 seasons? Ever since 1998 he was nowhere near his previous level and certainly nowhere near Cristiano's level for the past 7-8 seasons. Even pre-1998 it's difficult to argue he's ever reached the level Cristinao has been at for years.

You are obsessed with stats. Luis Ronaldo was better than Cristiano for most of his career.

You need to win a game. Do you seriously pick Cristiano ahead of Ronaldo?

Maybe I'm biased.. ok I'm biased but still..

 

[We need an rvn]

I can understand why people rank Messi, Maradona or Pele ahead of Cristiano, but Luiz Ronaldo?

How long was he at his peak? 2 seasons? Ever since 1998 he was nowhere near his previous level and certainly nowhere near Cristiano's level for the past 7-8 seasons. Even pre-1998 it's difficult to argue he's ever reached the level Cristinao has been at for years.

Think part of the reason, myself included, rate Luiz R over Ronnie is likeability - don't know anyone who didn't love watching the Brazilian play but know a lot who don't like how Ronaldo plays (Ie. Me over the team ora he gives off sometimes)

 

[MTF]

I always hate these discussions, its always about stats, goals, etc.

Listen, fella. What could the player do with the ball, were you terrified of him?

I always cheer against Madrid, so I know this experience. In tight,big games, like Atl Madrid, Juve etc C.Ronaldo simply doesn't scare me. Like, I never feel "damn, this guy is going to take over". I'm actually glad when he has the ball sometimes.

I don't give a shit for his 50 goals against Getafe's and whatnot.

Its the eye test. Luis Ronaldo, Zidane, Mess are big game players, players that gave you actual fear when cheering against. C.Ronaldo just doesn't give me that feeling. That's why he's in the 10-15 range for me..

That's a decent test, and no one comes close to Messi for me in that aspect. By the 3rd time he beats a player and starts a run towards goal you just wish one of your team's defenders would rugby tackle him. Only player I remember being anywhere near that was Ronaldinho in his prime.

Ronaldo doesn't, but isn't it in part because his key moments come at the end of crosses and passes? Think about United's R16 matchup with RM. Di Maria sends in a cross, you're not particularly afraid just then - but Ronaldo shows up towering above Evra to head in the corner... there isn't even time to be afraid. 2nd leg, great combination by Higuain and Ozil, looks menacing but no one's thinking about Ronaldo just then. And he's there, just at the right place to tap it in from a tight angle. Point is that at his best he's a finisher so there's not time to build up the fear.

You are obsessed with stats. Luis Ronaldo was better than Cristiano for most of his career.

You need to win a game. Do you seriously pick Cristiano ahead of Ronaldo?

Maybe I'm biased.. ok I'm biased but still..

Yeah I really really pick Cristiano. To each his own, but if a game needs to be played to save my life I'm picking Messi first, Ronaldo second... maybe Buffon 3rd? Actually what if they don't have cohesion? I'm picking 2011 Barcelona with Buffon in goal.

 

[Cal?]

You are obsessed with stats. Luis Ronaldo was better than Cristiano for most of his career.

You need to win a game. Do you seriously pick Cristiano ahead of Ronaldo?

Maybe I'm biased.. ok I'm biased but still..

Yes of course, you may be able to make an argument that Luiz Ronaldo was better in that one season at Barca, but most of his career? Sorry I just find that laughable.

Think part of the reason, myself included, rate Luiz R over Ronnie is likeability - don't know anyone who didn't love watching the Brazilian play but know a lot who don't like how Ronaldo plays (Ie. Me over the team ora he gives off sometimes)

Ronaldo's output for goals is quite remarkable. As an overall player i think he's a level or 2 below Brazilian Ronaldo and Messi for example.

Again, you're entitled to your opinion, but I don't think Luiz Ronaldo is even in the top 20 players of all time for his career. Cristinao Ronaldo is easily top 3 if not the best ever.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Top 20. Not enough really special big game performances to be in the top 5. There's goals against big teams, but too few 'wow' moments.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Yes of course, you may be able to make an argument that Luiz Ronaldo was better in that one season at Barca, but most of his career? Sorry I just find that laughable.


Again, you're entitled to your opinion, but I don't think Luiz Ronaldo is even in the top 20 players of all time for his career. Cristinao Ronaldo is easily top 3 if not the best ever.

 

[::sonny::]

Out of the top 10

Pele
Maradona
Garrincha
Di Stefano
Puskas
Cruyff
Zidane
Beckenbauer
Platini
Messi

 

[Šjor Bepo]

does cal ever posts during games where Ronaldo plays? because him being Ronaldo himself is the only rational explanation....

 

[Stack]

Top 20. His failure to do anything substantial on the international stage hugely counts against him. Without the sheer dominance of his club side he's nothing of the sort of force his stats suggest he is.

Also in the true big games at club football level he hasn't been all that special either. For a player to be rated as high as some try to rate him he should be the stand out player in the tough games, he's been anything but that. Snatch a goal here and there but when was his truly great performance vs the Barca's and Bayerns of this world?

As I said previously, the unbalanced nature of european top level club football at the moment has caused a distortion of the facts. Look at poor Mesut Ozil, everyone thought he's a top 10 player at madrid and he was making an embarrassment of the assist stats, take him out of that and he's proved to be a semi dud for arsenal.

Madrid is so dominant that he can get 5-7 1 on 1's in a match. I just can't see how that equals to him being a top 10 greatest all time player.

Where do you rate DiStefano then?. Do you apply this to him as well?.

 

[Red Stone]

Cristiano Ronaldo was quite influential in bringing Portugal to the final of the 2004 Euros and the semis of the 2006 World Cup. That's very good by Portugal's standards, and Ronaldo himself was just a kid back then too.

I can't help but think that Portugal would have been more successful if Ronaldo had kept going down the road he was on i 06-07, where we was more involved in the build-up play. Ironically, he might not have been regarded as highly as a player, because Messi would have pissed all over him as a creative hub/goalscoring phenom type. Ronaldo's only hope of being "The Best" and winning Ballon d'Ors is to outscore Messi, and to be fair, that's working quite well for him.

 

[Tommy]

Across all positions, somewhere in the top 50. Just attackers? Top 20 somewhere, I guess. I've not watched enough classic football (just like the majority of you).

 

[hbgreg]

Top 100

 

[sallycinnamin]

See if it's the one thing that stats can't do and that's emotion.

 

[LitterBug]

Maradona is the top player of all time for having the ability to singlehandedly change any team and result (sometimes literally).

Pele is second for being the most prolific goalscorer of all time.

Messi is the third best (hated him for years, this is hard for me to admit).

Ronaldo comes fourth for me simply because of the things he has won.

Fifth is Eusebio, another prolific goalscorer who is probably pretty much on par with Ronnie.

This concludes my top 5.

 

[Tommy]

Why is it always forwards in these threads? Based on performances, importance to the team, skill in the position & trophies won, I couldn't put Ronaldo ahead of Maldini overall.

Being a leader & captain gives you bonus points for any sort of top X list, in my opinion.

 

[berbatrick]

I always hate these discussions, its always about stats, goals, etc.

Listen, fella. What could the player do with the ball, were you terrified of him?

I always cheer against Madrid, so I know this experience. In tight,big games, like Atl Madrid, Juve etc C.Ronaldo simply doesn't scare me. Like, I never feel "damn, this guy is going to take over". I'm actually glad when he has the ball sometimes.

I don't give a shit for his 50 goals against Getafe's and whatnot.

Its the eye test. Luis Ronaldo, Zidane, Mess are big game players, players that gave you actual fear when cheering against. C.Ronaldo just doesn't give me that feeling. That's why he's in the 10-15 range for me..

Good post. When we faced Madrid in 2013, I was scared about di Maria bursting into space with a dribble or a through ball from ozil. If the ball was not in a shooting position, I would prefer Ronaldo on it rather than the rest of the front line. The times i was scared of Ronaldo was when the ball was out wide and he was lurking in the area, basically, that's how he will hurt you. And of course, he did. His positioning and strength and leap and heading and finishing are all insane.

 

[Stack]

Are we getting to the point where having a clear to5 or top 10 is nearly impossible?. Football now has such a long and deep history with so many amazing players throughout the years that to me it seems a very very difficult task to end up with a top 10 that is universally agreed on.

 

[Tommy]

Are we getting to the point where having a clear to5 or top 10 is nearly impossible?. Football now has such a long and deep history with so many amazing players throughout the years that to me it seems a very very difficult task to end up with a top 10 that is universally agreed on.

Can't get a top 1 that's universally agreed on, never mind a top 10. Boxing is in a similar position.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Steroids

 

[thejtrain]

You are obsessed with stats. Luis Ronaldo was better than Cristiano for most of his career.

You need to win a game. Do you seriously pick Cristiano ahead of Ronaldo?

Maybe I'm biased.. ok I'm biased but still..

Cristiano and I'm not even biased. He's just a better player, nothing else.

 

[Cal?]

Can't get a top 1 that's universally agreed on, never mind a top 10. Boxing is in a similar position.

Basketball seems to be the only ball sport that has an undisputed best ever...

 

[Cal?]

You'd have Luiz Ronaldo in your top 20?

 

[Stack]

Basketball seems to be the only ball sport that has an undisputed best ever...

Larry Bird!!

 

[Distracted Steward]

It would be hard to list the greatest to have played without his name coming up. I won't delve into greats, but I will say it'd be hard to argue 10 that were solidly better than him.

 

[charlenefan]

I'm 31 next month and I haven't seen anyone in those 30 years better than (or even close to) Messi and Ronaldo so for me they're both the best ever

 

[elmo]

Top 10. The amount of goals he's scored is fecking extraordinary. No matter what you say about him scoring tap ins or penalties, the fact that he has 321 goals in 305 games is just mind boggling.

He could go goalless for the next 400 games and still have a better goals/games ratio than Raul.

Reason I haven't gone for top 3 is that he hasn't done something extra special like win a World Cup.

So Messi isn't top 3 either?

 

[Stack]

I have been trying to pick my best 11 as a team with subs and I just cant do it. The choice now after so many decades of football is just to hard to make for me. I keep finding players I have to leave out which I cant justify leaving out.

 

[fontaine]

You'd have Luiz Ronaldo in your top 20?

Are you serious dude? A guy that won a world cup being top scorer and has 2 ballon d'ors, in his prime was unstoppable..

 

[Snake Plissken]

You'd have Luiz Ronaldo in your top 20?

Top 20?

He'd be in my top 10. You weren't old enough to see Luiz Ronaldo, an infinitely more gifted footballer, he could do things to top class defenders Cristiano could only dream of.

 

[IBleedRed]

1. George Best
2. Ronaldo
3. Everyone else

 

[goin4glory]

2nd after Messi. He wasn't as talented as Maradonna or Fat Ronaldo but his work ethic/determination and desire meant he's achieved more than either ever did.

 

[RedRonaldo]

This.

If Messi had never been born Ronaldo would have been considered the greatest player ever by a considerable distance. Look at his insane achievements and then think how often he has been beaten into second place for an award by Messi (three times for the Ballon d'Or for instance) or how often Messi's Barcelona stopped him from winning a league or CL title.

The pair of them have been so far ahead of everyone else, for so long a length of time, that it's almost comical.

Come think of it, without Messi, Ronaldo could have won Ballon d'Or for 6 or 7 times, which is totally unrivaled in the history of game.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Ronaldo winning wpoty was as much down to Messi's massive dip in form (by his standards and was most likely due to his injury issues) as it was anything Ronaldo done. Feck, people were campaigning for Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder etc to win wpoty over Messi at one point.

When the two players are firing on all cylinders there's only one guy winning the Ballon d'Or, for me that sums that up.

They've played similar amount of matches in past 6 or 7 years. If Messi have massive dip of form in 3 of those years, that would means Ronaldo consistency is even more so out of this world, which deserves to be regarded even higher.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Why is it always forwards in these threads? Based on performances, importance to the team, skill in the position & trophies won, I couldn't put Ronaldo ahead of Maldini overall.

Being a leader & captain gives you bonus points for any sort of top X list, in my opinion.

Defenders always get left out in top 10 lists.

It's just really hard to place them in the list.

 

[adexkola]

It's a fools errand to try and sort the players out numerically. Too many factors. Plus, how can you conclusively say such and such is the best if you haven't seen every great player with the same amount of detail? I mean you could, but that's just, like, your opinion man.

Which is why I went with the tiers method. Easy way of shoehorning players in.

Tier 1: Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Cryuff
Tier 1.5: Messi*
Tier 2: Platini, Van Basten, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Xavi, and so on

*(On Messi, for me, an international tournament where he unanimously rips shit, destroys every challenger, and either wins the trophy or is let down by Higuain, would propel him to tier 1 for me. Something like Zidane in 2006 or even better. He didn't quite get there in the last 2 tournaments with Argentina but he still has time. Fingers crossed. In my very humble opinion)

As for Ronaldo, I think the insane battle with Messi he has had over the past 7 years have been as damaging to his story, as it has been instrumental to the heights he reached. As he is finally declining, he is still seen by an alarming amount of fans as a poor man's Messi, devoid of flair and technical skill, and only good for racking up goals against the likes of Getafe.

It will be interesting to see how history remembers him once he hangs his boots up, and it would be a shame if he's remembered only as the other guy.

Top 8-15.

 

[RedRonaldo]

My top 10 would be:
(Rating in terms of peak/footballing, consistency/longevity, success/achievements)

1. Pele (8, 9, 10)
2. Messi (9, 9, 9)
2. Maradona (10, 7, 9)
4. Di Stefano (8, 9, 9)
5. Ronaldo (8, 10, 8)
6. Cruyff (9, 8, 8)
7. Beckenbauer (8, 8, 8)
8. Puskas (7, 9, 8)
9. Platini (8, 7, 8)
10. Zidane (8, 7, 8)

Note:
-As Messi is 2 years younger than Ronaldo and have some very short period of occasional dip of form (some of it due to injuries) I would give him rating of 9 in terms of consistency/longevity for now, but he would easily get a 10 with few more years of football.
- success/achievement include success at club level and international level, and achievements in terms of personal award, breaking records(top goal scorer/top assist), defining a new style of play (Cruyff, Beckenbauer) or winning on his own despite playing in a weaker side (Maradona for Argentina and Napoli)

 

[11101]

Top 10. He and Messi are enjoying the limelight of being current players, but in 50 years i think he will be viewed just behind the likes of Maradona and Pele. Perhaps two levels below, with Messi one level below.

Whilst the instant availability of highlights of everything hes ever done helps his reputation, the lack of mystique present in players like Maradona and Garrincha detracts from it.