Messi vs Ronaldo

[grecian]

Not really you kniw Ronaldo was excellent in EURO 04, WC 06 & was having a pretty good tournament in EURO 08 until Portugal where knocked out.

Last year in the CL final he was brillaint for 90 minutes, almost costed United with the missed penalty. While this year he worked hardd for 90 minutes, the mid-field just failed to supply with the regular good stuff..

To be honest, I guess it's all down to interpretation, as I thought he was poor in E06, WC08. Haven't watched much of it, but I'm guessing he's not been brilliant in qualification for Portugal. In CL certainly wasn't close to brilliant last year in the final, average with a nice header. Was largely a peripheral figure in this years match.

Performances against the other teams in the big-four is also often down on when he slaughters the likes of West Brom, Hull or Totenham.....

 

[roseboy64]

Ronaldo. He's the better overall player I think. Better in the air, with the dead ball( penalties and freekicks), faster and more strength. Better at running with the ball. Messi has a slight edge in aesthetics and his kind of dribbling is better. Ronaldo can't do that because of his frame compared to Messi so uses speed more with his dribbling to go past players while Messi uses ball control.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Ronaldo is a more rounded player and can do more things well, Messi is far better at what he can do though.

 

[Furball]

Ronaldo, both on par technically. But Ronaldo is stronger, a weakness in Messi's game that has been regularly exposed in CL games againts English sides.

Eh?

Terry tried to muscle Messi off the ball and ended up on his arse.

Messi needs to be strong, quite a few teams have attempted to follow Real Madrid's pioneering tactic, called "kick the **** out of Messi when he gets the ball."

 

[Furball]

Debatable tbh

Fantastic goal, but Messi has had so many random moments when I've seen La Liga this season where he just looks like the ball is glued to his foot.

 

[irfan]

Messi did see far, far more of the ball due to Barca absolutely dominating though.

I'd go for Ronaldo, although Messi's infinitely more likeable. He's a bit more capable of carrying an attack I'd say. Or at least, we know he can, whereas we're not sure whether Messi can because he's never had to. I think he'd probably fit into more systems than Messi too.

The whole "doesn't perform in big games" crap is such bollocks too. Anyone who ever has a bad game in a match against a decent side immediately has it thrown at them, with the fact that Ronaldo scored crucial goals in the first knockout stage second leg, quarter final second leg and semi final second leg somehow conveniently forgotten. It's bollocks when they spout it about Messi, and it's bollocks when they spout it about Ronaldo.

AWTA. Ronaldo is probably better in carrying an attack on his own, but in any side with half a decent midfield - Messi can be far more damaging due to his sheer variety of dribbling sorties.

 

[Furball]

I'd go for Ronaldo, although Messi's infinitely more likeable. He's a bit more capable of carrying an attack I'd say. Or at least, we know he can, whereas we're not sure whether Messi can because he's never had to. I think he'd probably fit into more systems than Messi too.

When's Ronaldo ever had to?

It's not like he's been lining up alongside dross for Man Utd.

 

[aussie]

Eh?

Terry tried to muscle Messi off the ball and ended up on his arse.

Messi needs to be strong, quite a few teams have attempted to follow Real Madrid's pioneering tactic, called "kick the **** out of Messi when he gets the ball."

Am lets not forget Messi goal againts United was the first in 11 games againts English sides. Plus the same thing happened vs Brazil in Copa America. So the tactic does work.

 

[aussie]

Debatable tbh

Ronaldinho as well.

Gourcuff is a funny case. Was AWOL @ Milan an almost immediately going back to France has stepped up, he also hasn't really up on the international stage - but i guess France having an average coach hasn't helped.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Reckon they are very hard to seperate TBH. I do find Messi to be slightly overated though. Guess I might as well admit to being biased when I voted for Ronaldo. I do find him to be a ****, though I love the way he can inspire such hatred.

 

[Smith]

Reckon they are very hard to seperate TBH. I do find Messi to be slightly overated though. Guess I might as well admit to being biased when I voted for Ronaldo. I do find him to be a ****, though I love the way he can inspire such hatred.

Yeah. It takes some doing to be both exceptional and yet invoke so much hatred.

 

[Uppercut]

When's Ronaldo ever had to?

It's not like he's been lining up alongside dross for Man Utd.

It's all relative. Barcelona keep the ball so well and as such keep Messi supplied with a lot more of the ball. They'll always play attacking football, there's no Plan B (not that they need one when they're this good).

United will sometimes play a stifling 4-5-1, especially in Europe. Their possession football is nowhere near as good as Barca's and while not what you'd call direct, they're more direct than Barca. While Barca always build their side around attack, United sometimes go defensive. Quite often United have offered very little going forward and Ronaldo has indeed had to do it on his own. It doesn't mean he's necessarily a better player, but i think if you were to throw Ronaldo into a side like Everton or Portsmouth he'd have a bigger impact than Messi would.

Personally i'm not bitter about him going to RM at all. He's not likeable, but he's won us three straight titles that we wouldn't have got anywhere near without him so he's pretty hard to dislike too. And he'd always wanted to go to Madrid, just like if i played for Madrid i'd always want to go to United. Fair play to him.