Is Ronaldo vs Messi the all time greatest rivalry of this sport?

I wouldn't describe Ballack, Lampard, Cole & Essien as creative midfielders. Besides he spent most of his career in a defensive setup playing as the lone man upfront.

The one season we played progressive attacking football he had the best goals to games ratio in PL history despite not taking pens.

Besides, Drogba wasn't a scrub killer like Henry or Suarez. He was the very definition of a big game player as evidenced by his finals/semi finals records and his record against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs etc as well as in the CL (8th all time on the charts).

You people should listen to your arguments. Rivalries are defined on the field, by skill, not by trading insults in the media.

Ronaldo and Messi have been directly competing in the same league week in week out for almost half a decade. Their competitiveness has brought them to a level so high that they are indisputably the best in the world, leagues above the rest, to the point that titles dont even matter anymore!

If we look at the past players would only get the ballon d'or by a combination of individual and team achievements. Nowadays even if you win the WC or the CL its not enough if you aren't Messi or Ronaldo. In the past you rarely had a year where the best player would be undisputable. Nowadays? For the past 6 years (6 *bleep* years!) you have known that it's either gonna be Messi or Ronaldo. As long as they keep their form, you know they don't need titles.

Who even considered that Ribery would win this year?

Do you really believe that if Ronaldo didn't have Messi pushing him, or vice versa, that either of them would be as individualistic and as phenomenal as they are? Nope.

Just because Barca has a branding marketing strategy of humbleness, that stops you from ever knowing what their players are thinking, and because Real is now trying to imitate that, does not mean that there is not a huge rivalry between them.

I think the silence they give each other proves that there is a huge tension between them. The rivalry probably dominates their lifes. Did you see how Ronaldo cried after winning the ballon d'or? Tell me, since when has a ballon d'or meant so much to a player before? Why did Ronaldo cry after getting his second ballon d'or and not his first?

There is either deep hatred or deep respect between them, actually probabbly both.

stunt wrote:You people should listen to your arguments. Rivalries are defined on the field, by skill, not by trading insults in the media.

Ronaldo and Messi have been directly competing in the same league week in week out for almost half a decade. Their competitiveness has brought them to a level so high that they are indisputably the best in the world, leagues above the rest, to the point that titles dont even matter anymore!

If we look at the past players would only get the ballon d'or by a combination of individual and team achievements. Nowadays even if you win the WC or the CL its not enough if you aren't Messi or Ronaldo. In the past you rarely had a year where the best player would be undisputable. Nowadays? For the past 6 years (6 *bleep* years!) you have known that it's either gonna be Messi or Ronaldo. As long as they keep their form, you know they don't need titles.

Who even considered that Ribery would win this year?

Do you really believe that if Ronaldo didn't have Messi pushing him, or vice versa, that either of them would be as individualistic and as phenomenal as they are? Nope.

Just because Barca has a branding marketing strategy of humbleness, that stops you from ever knowing what their players are thinking, and because Real is now trying to imitate that, does not mean that there is not a huge rivalry between them.

I think the silence they give each other proves that there is a huge tension between them. The rivalry probably dominates their lifes. Did you see how Ronaldo cried after winning the ballon d'or? Tell me, since when has a ballon d'or meant so much to a player before? Why did Ronaldo cry after getting his second ballon d'or and not his first?

There is either deep hatred or deep respect between them, actually probabbly both.

That's only hell of a post but you should learn not to take HipsterLegacy seriously. Those two didn't even vote for each other for the Balon D'or but it's apparently only a media enforced rivalry.

Gil wrote:I wouldn't describe Ballack, Lampard, Cole & Essien as creative midfielders. Besides he spent most of his career in a defensive setup playing as the lone man upfront.

The one season we played progressive attacking football he had the best goals to games ratio in PL history despite not taking pens.

Besides, Drogba wasn't a scrub killer like Henry or Suarez. He was the very definition of a big game player as evidenced by his finals/semi finals records and his record against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs etc as well as in the CL (8th all time on the charts).

Considering how you played its pretty irrelevant how creative they are tbf....

Its like Man Yoo really over last few years, all they had was positive, aggressive play with lots of width but Roonay still scored shit loads.

People overrate the importance of the midfield when it comes to strikers scoring goals, especially ones of Drogba's ilk getting crosses into the box and getting the ball forward quickly is a lot more effective.

As it is with most strikers..... its no surprise strikers have struggled to score for you when they have excelled else where considering how slow and narrow you have played.

Juan Mata vs the Bench has probably been the best rivalry this season.

Ronaldo vs Messi is only slightly more entertaining than that overall.

Look at the lack of Barcelona fans in this thread, compared with the Madrid fans   

Sort of tells its own story

This thread is missing the word "individual" in the title.
But we've said for years now that football has never seen scoring the way that these too have been lighting it up now consistently, so of course it can be a top rivalry since at the individual level it always comes down to them two almost directly every time.

Now you say that it's a rivalry between fans mostly and that everyone now has a say with the internet and social media and so forth but that's the world we live in today and if maradona and pele were rivals today it'd be no different. At the same time some of you guys also cite the contradictory statement that their rivalry has been a more personal one due to their attacks in that same media. That is true and since they never played each other they have to square off somehow (and it's funny when they do) but Messi vs cr7 isn't over at all yet.

Is it movieworthy? We'll see how intense it gets in the future but it can defo be the top individual rivalry in football, not taking anything from the two legends.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Babun wrote:

zigra wrote:So Ronaldo vs Messi is the greatest rivalry of all time because you're too young to have ever witnessed another one?   

More like Messi and Ronaldo would have been out injured  6 months every year if they played in that period of time :lol:Messi is too frail and Ronnie false physical. Drogba would've still owned anyways.
Speaking of Drogs, he was one of the best players of the last decade. Guy's reputation was tarnished by his acting on the field and the super crap support he got from midfield in his Chelsea era. Chelsea didn't have any creative mids, no wingers either. He had to create for himself and others every game. He was absolutely a big match player as well.

You mean that super crap midfield consisting of Ballack-Essien and Lampard with Robben and Joe Cole on the wings? That Chelsea?

Don't rewrite the past, yes Chelsea's team that won the CL were decidely average by comparison but for most of Drogba's Chelsea career the team was stacked.

Also LOL @ Ronaldo and Messi wouldn't have owned.... anyway if anything Drogba was overrated.

He scored 20+ twice in his 8 year Chelsea career..... scoring 51 goals in 158 games in the other 6  seasons.

One of the best players in the last decade my arse.

Did you ever watch that team properly? I followed Chelsea closely back in those years because of Ballack. Lampard was the AM who couldn't do shit besides of spreading the ball wide instantly or shooting at the goal whenever Drogba created space for him. Outwide they had Joe Cole and Florent Malouda. Both couldn't beat their men even if their life depended on it. Joe and Malouda lacked the pace to outrun the fullback so they cut in all the time. Nevermind, Cole was out injured most of the time. Ballack and Essien covered heaps of space defensively but offensivly there was no penetration because they couldn't play the ball wide or hope that Lampard would keep the ball long enough with his superb technical ability for them to make a run for it into space. Their plan was basically, Peter Cech to Drogba, knock off to Lampard and then proceed or a set piece won by Drogba again. Ashley Cole was their only way to get any type of width back then.
Still, with all of those handicaps he was the nightmare of Liverpool, Arsenal etc. I know you don't like him but give credit when it's due.
Also, the one talking out of his arse is you

Our midfield wouldn't have scored as many goals without Drogba that's for sure.

Betty La Fea wrote:Juan Mata vs the Bench has probably been the best rivalry this season.

Ronaldo vs Messi is only slightly more entertaining than that overall.

Nothing personal  but why do you bash mata in every single post you make? lol

Babun is really talking out his arse.

Yes that team was not set up for tiki taka football to literally pass the ball to the 6 yard line for Drogba to tap in, but you're exaggerating to the point where I think you hardly even watched that Chelsea. Don't go on about what you don't know mate.

I can't count how many times Lamps assisted Drogba over the period of time they played together. Most of the memorable/important goals Drogba scored(which tbh 80% of what he scored were important goals) were assisted by Lamps or a wing player. You mention Malouda like this same Malouda wasn't on fire during that title winning season with Carlo. Malouda AND Kalou were ridiculous that year(as well as pretty much the entire team tbh).


I pull up a random Drogba top 10 Chelsea goals video for instance, and about 7 of the 10 are assisted by the midfielders and wingers whom you say cannot create to save their lives




Bar the free kicks, there are only few Drogba goals that weren't assisted(like the one against Arsenal in 2005 iirc). The team was SET UP to feed Drogba and if he couldn't find space, he was an incredibly good hold up player who could allow the wingers/midfielders to come into play.

I don't think Drogba could have done more in his career for Chelsea than he's done(well except keep a cool head in Moscow). No idea what you're on about, Babun.




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Sorry for going OT that much. Had to clear that up.




On topic, I do think this is the best player-player rivalry this sport has ever season. I don't think you can call Pele-Maradona as good a rivalry when they never played against each other and you're essentially hypothetically comparing 2 eras, which can go either way.

There are countless Messi vs Ronaldo matches and videos that are gonna be talked about for years, not to mention the Ballon d'Or battles.

Also, as much as this is a team sport, you can have a team of average/decent players and one massive star in the team who'd inspire them and spur them to victories. As much as we try to make it more about the team, there are stand out stars that can bring individuality(even while playing within the team system) to light. These once in a generation players are made of that silk. Players whose teams can be s*** for an entire match and in the dying minute they pull off some incredible magic to win the match for their team. At that point, that player has won the match. I think most of us already know this concept, we just don't want to admit it.

Well, Messi has recently let it become a conversation with a combination of injuries and a reduction of team focus, but for a good four or five years there was zero question.

In my mind, there's very little doubt as to who is better anyway, it's just a matter of who applies themselves best toward team success.

At the moment, they both suck at that, Messi, obviously, much less so, but, disappointingly, catching up Cristiano, who, to his credit, improved somewhat in that department.

the xcx wrote:Babun has never talked out of his arse. He was 100% right.

Ok.

Le Samourai wrote:Well, Messi has recently let it become a conversation with a combination of injuries and a reduction of team focus, but for a good four or five years there was zero question.

In my mind, there's very little doubt as to who is better anyway, it's just a matter of who applies themselves best toward team success.

At the moment, they both suck at that, Messi, obviously, much less so, but, disappointingly, catching up Cristiano, who, to his credit, improved somewhat in that department.

I mostly agree with you. I think around 08/09 and early '10 it was close and its become close again over the last 6 months or so. Messi is still the better player but I prefer to watch CR7 play tbh. Simply because I love pace and power and he's the best embodiment of it I've seen since I started watching football. Throw in the skill he has and its heaven TV for me.

humanity never ceases to dissapoint

the xcx wrote:I would love to see those 2 battling out each other in the Prem League. That would be legendary.

So you don't want to see either in the Champions League?