Which other player had as much influence on other footballers like Ronaldo

if you watched football throughout the 90's, you would know what new elements ronaldo brought to the game and how he influenced other players.

Imo the guy is a little underrated, and often it's like not too many people know him or forgotten about him.

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Even Cristiano Ronaldo, of all people, idolised R9,

Cristiano Ronaldo about Ronaldo:

''Ronaldo was a phenomenon, one of the best players of all time, and as a person and a player he was impressive. It is sad that he has had to retire, but he knows better than anyone if he could continue to play football.

I want to thank Ronaldo very much for everything he meant to players of my generation.''

Robby Bobson defined his tactics in Barcelona: ''My tactic: Ronaldo"

Zidane: ''Ronaldo best player I've ever seen, and play with or against in my career''

Maldini: ''Ronaldo most difficult player I have ever played against, close to Maradona''

Leonardo: ''Ronaldo best player ever''

Ronaldinho: ''Ronaldo greatest player ever, and my idol''

Eto'o: ''Best player ever''

Messi: ''Best forward ever''

Benzema: ''I try to be like him, I watch his videos to learn..''

Ronaldinho, Messi, Kaka, Robinho, Pato, Neymar, Benzema, Balotelli, Drogba, Eto'o, Zidane, etc. so many other stars have been influenced by Ronaldo.

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will probably inspire future players the same way, but has any other players had similar influence on the game and footballers like Ronaldo did?

Yes, Johann Cruyff has been more influential all around.

Not to take anything from Ronaldo though.

Marco Van Basten.

We will get many such quotes about many others players, not a big deal tbh. But what he or any WPOTY from 90s onwards had advantage of was having far far larger media reach than players from previous eras, hence we have such strong memory of his.

It always depends on the position. For goalkeepers, I doubt Ronaldo was much of a role model

So one of the legit contenders for GOAT is underrated? Wut?

Zealous wrote:So one of the legit contenders for GOAT is underrated? Wut?

usuallly his name doesnt come up along pele's maradona's and messi's for the GOAT contender

Well Ronaldo did a lot of things better than many before him, but he did little that nobody before him did, is my point on him.

One of the best forwards to ever grace the game, great tactical intelligence, great instincts, strong technique - a complete forward.

But we've had that before and after, as well. Not saying he wasn't special, he was a phenomenon, that's true. I just think he had the "bad luck" to come at a time, where most options for forwards were already pretty well explored.

I think when people idolize Ronaldo, it's mostly because of how well he did, what he did, and not because it was something entirely new, creative, or special. He was just the best at something many people have done. They just weren't as good.

I think that's why we talk more of players like Cruyff, who introduced entire systems and concepts to football.

But I might be wrong, maybe I've overlooked some revolutionary thing R9 did, but IMHO he was a phenomenon because of how good he was. Not because he did something new.

The Man with no Name wrote:

Zidane: ''Ronaldo best player I've ever seen, and play with or against in my career''

Maldini: ''Ronaldo most difficult player I have ever played against, close to Maradona''

Leonardo: ''Ronaldo best player ever''

Ronaldinho: ''Ronaldo greatest player ever, and my idol''

Eto'o: ''Best player ever''

Messi: ''Best forward ever''

Haha everyone called him the best ever, except for Messi

Ronaldo was my first love in football. The guy was the reason I started watching football.

Ninis wrote:

Zealous wrote:So one of the legit contenders for GOAT is underrated? Wut?

usuallly his name doesnt come up along pele's maradona's and messi's for the GOAT contender

Probably because he was injured more than he played and his CL record is worse than Ibra's and RVP's.

Or maybe because he JUST retired and there have been no official "greatest of all time" discussions coming in from FIFA that open up the debate.