tbh messi is the better player overall but the gap is not huge, just the small things that make the difference at times between the top 2 elite of the game, the only problem i have is that, everything that both does is always viewed in away that one as to be put down to make the other look good, when in reality its only gonna be about ron vs messi only they can be compared

all ron as to do is keep performing in big games and for NT, it will seem a lot more closer between them imo

jontsu wrote:

Lol if you want to laugh watch this. Good material for unknown_genius

i see that some of you(maybe most of you )believe that Ronaldo has better sprint speed than messi... We don't know that for sure, because both of them have great speed.. Don't make the confusion tall guy vs short guy sprint is better.. the height doesn't mather when you are comparing run ability...

ira murchison won olympic medal in 100 m, being shorter than messi, and even shorter than maradona.

I think messi is better at everything that matters for an offensive player (not by far) except long shots...

billionmillion wrote:

jontsu wrote:

Lol if you want to laugh watch this. Good material for unknown_genius

hahahaha kinda mean tho: producing a 6 min video of cr7 failures considering its like the 1st game of preseason.

Anyway just shows again how Messi is superior to CR7 on this aspect. Remember what messi did to Madrid last season, coming from holiday just days before the match having had no preseaso preparation at all. Remember that?

I also noticed something unusual during a cr7 freekick- a guy standing at the near post. Why dont players do that more often? I think it can be effective with very tall players.

i think its a pretty close contest , both have different attributes which make them special players which have been mentioned different times.. i prefer ronaldo but i think messi is the better player , though not by much, at least IMO

First off I won't lie, I'm not a fan of Ronaldo's so take or leave what I say.

I personally think if they played in separate eras nobody would make comparisons and nobody would believe Ronaldo is as good as Messi. Why? I think football wise Messi is on a completely different level to Ronaldo, I don't think it's close.

Ronaldo is marketable, he's an amazing athlete and he's willing to be flashy and showboat which people love to see.

Both players are fast and great finishers but the first area where Messi is just totally different to Ronaldo is dribbling. Ronaldo mostly uses pace and "tricks"(stepovers, flip flap sort of thing). Messi goes about dribbling in a completely different way, his short stature allows him to change directions at an amazing pace which simply leaves a defender for dead, as once you plant your foot and shift your weight he can go the other way leaving you little to no chance of catching him. Coupling his directional change with a drop of the shoulder and quick bursts of acceleration he can hold on to the ball and round multiple players making it look like nothing. Messi may not use the flicks and tricks of Ronaldo, Neymar but he is simply effective.

Passing again I think Messi leaves Ronaldo in the dust. He picks the right option and has a great range in his passing, in tight spaces and under pressure he seems to be able to get it away to a free man.

I guess a part of passing but also used in other areas is his awareness. Whether it is picking out a man making a run without seemingly looking up or beating a defender that came out of nowhere Messi's reading of the game is excellent. People are comparing him to Ozil? I'd take him any day of the week as my playmaker over Ozil. I'm looking foward to the day Messi loses a bit of pace and has to drop deeper, he'll still be incredible.

Heading is obviously an area where Ronaldo has a distinct advantage. His vertical leap is huge and he towers over Messi. However to me this doesn't make Ronaldo "more complete", just gives him different skills.

Too tired to write more, I might edit my post later.

I'd rather wait until both careers are over.

jontsu wrote:/watch?v=-rQq7NnuaF4
Its a friendly i know, but still.. the opponent isnt tough or i have never heard about this team but Cristiano played so crap.

This team is halfway in its season. Santos lugena is not crap, they are a top mexican team. Like you said, its pre season, and ronaldo was still getting fit after the euros. It took until vs milan for his rhythm to get going.

If this is the clean debate section don't bring troll posts. The field sucked as well..

Cant believe people still debate this .Im not even that big of a Messi fan but the gap is so big that Messi cant even see Ronaldo.Also cant believe people think Ronaldo is the 2nd best dribbler .Off the top of my head,these are the players better than Ronaldo at dribbling.
Luis Suarez
Angel Di Maria
Andres Iniesta
Carlos Tevez
Marcelo
Philipe Coutinho
Ezequiel Lavezzi
Frank Ribery

its not such a big gap tbf, and yes ronaldo is not the second best dribbler in the world, but dribbling is not the foremost criteria for judging a player either though it may seem pretty attractive to watch.

Messi & its not even close. Ronaldo is a very good goal-scorer but among him & Iniesta I would choose Iniesta over him anyday.

Kingofeverythingclassy wrote:Messi & its not even close. Ronaldo is a very good goal-scorer but among him & Iniesta I would choose Iniesta over him anyday.

and i would choose iker over iniesta anyday, thats how flawed your sentence is

shouldnt even bring other players into this, not my problem if people's feelings got hurt cause they compared cristiano to the best player on earth

so just say messi is better for this and this instead of pulling out random players you think are better than cristiano

vivabarca38 wrote:Off the top of my head,these are the players better than Ronaldo at dribbling.
Luis Suarez
Carlos Tevez
Philipe Coutinho
Ezequiel Lavezzi

Please, PLEASE tell me your kidding. Especially about tevez.. ROFL..

Iniesta is the 2nd best dribbler and then marcelo after him when it comes to pure dribbling. But ronaldo is definitely better then these guys. When they lose the ball from dribbling, its just good defense right? But when ronaldo loses it, he sucks at dribbling. you can't have it both ways

Ronaldo is known for dribbling though his dribbling skills aren't as world class as Ribery, Iniesta, Messi, Surarez.

The Sanchez wrote:Ronaldo is known for dribbling though his dribbling skills aren't as world class as Ribery, Iniesta, Messi, Surarez.

ever since his ankle injury his dribbling has been crap. He isn't even beter than Higuain ffs

cr isnt even a top 3 dribbler in madrid's team

The fact that SAF chose to sign him to United from sporting was because of his dribbling and speed, but mostly because of his dribbling...

we can say that because at that time, he was a skinny 17 yr old kid (no strength, muscles , power that he is known for now) and not even a goal scorer, in fact he only scored a handful goals all season... so those two reasons that today he is renowned for, were NOT the reasons SAF and others wanted to sign him, it was his exceptional dribbling.....

Now, i am in shock as to what happened to his dribbling abilities as well...

so let's say this... if all what he has today (physicality, scoring abilities, positioning, speed and whatever) added with his dribbling skills of 2003-2006 (which you can kinda see in the video i posted below) ... how highly would you all rank him if that was the case?

And what are some of your explanations for loss of his dribbling skills which he had then, which were amazing

Lionel Messi is simply better. There's no explanation, he simply is. Lionel Messi has better dribbling skills, better finishing, he's faster, and he has better attitude. Ronaldo would be really REALLY good if he weren't such a diver and cheater.

For me, the debate has been settled for quite some time: Messi is the greatest player in the world, one of the greatest ever, and will probably be for some time.

The majority of the statistics I've seen back this up to the nth degree, and the majority of arguments for Ronaldo - superior phyiscal prowess, the most glaring example I've seen - revolve around a very common fallacy.

That fallacy is that we tend to objectively categorize skills or assets as if they have both an even footing as other more relevant categories. In other words, Ronaldo is indeed taller, faster (top speed), stronger (relative, as Messi is arguably a more "physical" player in some ways), but those don't stack up as 1+1+1+1. Messi's success isn't reliant on those elements, and his "completeness" is relative. In simple terms, just because, say, Ronaldo has a stronger opposite foot only means he is a more complete player in a very superficial sense.

That idea of completeness is probably best projected onto the most interesting discussion on here: what happened to the player that Ronaldo was at United? The versatility of his game, an unparalleled combination of "effective" flair and ability, seems to be lost in recent years. It's unimaginable to picture as Ronaldo being world-class in anything other than his LW postion (at CF he'd be stiffled of space and marshaled by two centrebacks, in a deeper midfield position he doesn't have the workrate to play), but with Messi it's possible to imagine him being world-class at CF, RW, CAM -- all of which he has played with at Barcelona and Argentina. Madrid have envisioned Ronaldo as a scorer and only that, which is why increasingly his defenses are formulated in goal-scoring terms (which, ultimately, became problematic after Messi's record-shattering 2011-2012 campaign...). Messi constantly influences the game even when he is not scoring, since he's more than a scorer and because his coaches have had faith in him to be something other than a poacher. It's not really Ronaldo's fault that he's become a glorified one-trick pony, and his 100+ more attempts on goal than any other player shows that he's attempting to singularly overwhelm in this restricted role, a kind of "This may be all I am asked to do...but, by God, I'm going to do it!" A shame really, since he used to be so much more back in 2007.

Ronaldo is really good at what he does. Scoring goals and being a physical presence that is.
Definitely a great player. But Messi is something else. There are many games that come to mind that Messi didn’t score and he was still the best and most usefull player on the pitch.
The same cannot be said for Chrisy. I could go on but it’s clear what I’m saying. Messi just offers more to the game

Ganso wrote:cr isnt even a top 3 dribbler in madrid's team

Marcelo
Ronaldo
Di maria

Saying he's a worse dribbler then higuain is pushing it..

You can't lose dribbling skills to the extent that some people claim he has. Its mentality. In ronaldo's first season at madrid he was dribbling tons. Its discipline really.

I'd say Benzema's a better dribbler than Ronaldo imo.

Messi is better at goal scoring, can play defense splitting through passes, and can beat defenders regularly (things that Cristiano rarely does)..

Messi >>> Cristiano

mtfootball wrote:I'd say Benzema's a better dribbler than Ronaldo imo.

Benzema has a better touch then ronaldo. He isn't a better dribbler then higuain let alone ronaldo.

jibers wrote:

The Sanchez wrote:Ronaldo is known for dribbling though his dribbling skills aren't as world class as Ribery, Iniesta, Messi, Surarez.

ever since his ankle injury his dribbling has been crap. He isn't even beter than Higuain ffs

what happened to his ankle? how did it change his game?

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:

jibers wrote:

The Sanchez wrote:Ronaldo is known for dribbling though his dribbling skills aren't as world class as Ribery, Iniesta, Messi, Surarez.

ever since his ankle injury his dribbling has been crap. He isn't even beter than Higuain ffs

what happened to his ankle? how did it change his game?

this is how his game changed


i wonder if he had that same dribbling as shown in the video.... with the stuff he has now... like goal scoring and pace and physicality and positioning... i wonder if that would make him much better?