I notice that Messi...

@Squawka: Lionel Messi created 6 chances vs. APOEL, more than any player in the opening Champions League fixtures. #FCBarcelona http://t.co/uhPwxXFOkx

bats your the worst poster on this site.
ZIdane wasnt prolific. Still best of his generation. Messis numbers are better than everyone,and on par(even after his dip) with ronaldo.

comment by Nickalopodis-BoomsObsession (U9257)
posted 2 hours, 58 minutes ago
bats your the worst poster on this site.
ZIdane wasnt prolific. Still best of his generation. Messis numbers are better than everyone,and on par(even after his dip) with ronaldo.
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Oh shut up you absolute moron, you're a far worse poster than him, for one, you offer practically nothing but the most primitive/insignificant comments.

Your a ghost, no one knows, or cares about your, irrelevant opinion. Messi showing once again why Ronaldo is the superior player. Ronaldo's career is not over after 4 years at the top. Messi's main competitor is out till the first El Classico though, so he can lay calmly for now.

Jesus, who is the feckwit above?!?!

Messi is a quality player, one of the best you have seen or ever will see, if you can't appreciate that then you are the one missing out, nobody else.

Its like little boys at school with most on here, all supporting glory hunter teams so as to get one up on others, and its the same with players, you have to chose one or the other, you can't just enjoy both.......sad pathetic Morons!!!

Cinci, I think a fair bit of it is tongue-in-cheek, but in the particular case of the user you referred to, he's Portuguese, so it's understandable that he might feel a stronger allegiance than most to CR.

What you said though, I don't really see how knocking either CR or Messi at every turn makes the other look any better. If people went by these two polarised opinions, it would eventually seem like they were arguing who was the better of two not very good players. I get that some people still think it's a good laugh, but it reminds of my kids telling the same joke, wanting to watch the same DVD or listening to the same song time and time again.

Anyhow, I'll just pretend this isn't a JAW (Just Another Wum) article and try to offer a balanced view.

Despite being a Madrid fan, I've knocked CR plenty myself in the past, partly as a response to people awarding him attributes I feel he doesn't particularly stand out for, but mainly as regards his demeanour.

As regards each player's footballing qualities, I've always thought Messi's the more talented individual, but I don't feel his performances have shown him to be a better player over the past couple of years. I haven't seen all that much of him so far this season, but the general consensus in Spain is that he appears far more committed and involved than in the previous year and a half or two, and that was probably the main aspect that seemed to have gone missing from his game.

itsonlyagame both fantastic players.

bats and the other guy are just angry ronaldo fanboys I guess.

Both amazing players, doubt we will ever see the like again(both amazing players like zidane, but with the consistency statwise better than anyone)

people like to blindly follow players and then speak rubbish, like messi only had 4 years at the top . makes me chuckle and why I love this forum.

Nick, agreed, best bit for me is to just enjoy and what they bring to it.

Only, I'm an old fart and I've seen players (not many) who imo were equal or superior to these two. Admittedly, I'm probably biased towards the viewing experience in my younger years (I think you tend to live things with greater exhilaration when you're younger), but stats don't tell the full story imo.

no of course not, football is so stat orientated nowadays and it does not reflect what took part in a game.
Zidane was fantastic, and had nowhere near the stats...maybe not even assists but he probably played roles in most of madrids goals and was just a joy to watch.

was just a joy to watch
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Well worth the price of a ticket just to watch him maneouver in midfield for 90 minutes. Amazing range of ball controls, first touch that would take him away from opponents so many times without even having to attempt a dribble. As for strikers, I don't think anyone I've watched could get past CBs with quite the ease of the original Ronaldo in his early years.

Ronaldo was who I based my game on growing up, sucks getting old, lost so much pace to my game, now like pirlo