Messi

Personally I feel like the way people rank players in sort of a ladder format is the wrong way to look at it. You can argue a 'top 5' but I don't think there's enough between people at that level for it to be that literal. Especially when they are such different players. You can compare attributes such as dribbling or whatever but when they are so different, it's hard.

I see it more as a tree, with various branches containing smaller branches which represent the players. So I see players as being on the same larger branch rather than like a ladder. Messi and Ronaldo have been the most consistent players of all time but in terms of ability, I don't see that there are clear levels between either of them and I'd say the same with them, Pele, Maradona etc, there are a group of just incredibly talented players who belong in the very top group of elite players. Forcing them into a literal ranking seems pointless. Also, I haven't watched so many players, it feels weird to say definitively that player x is better than player y. I never watched Jimmy Greaves, for example and if he'd had all of the access to modern sports science, pitches etc, would he have excelled even further? Maybe the advance of tactics and pressing etc would actually hit players of past eras harder. We'll never know.

You can spend hours arguing who is 'better' out of Messi and Ronaldo but ultimately, what does it achieve? People do it more out of a need for people to think like them and agree with them. It's fine for a bit of fun and debate but people take it way too seriously and actually get really angry and heated about it.

Anyway, Messi better start banging them in like Ronaldo, otherwise the GOAT debate will become one sided.
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I reckon most fans have seen enough and are not going to change their minds because of one season in both players' twilight years. Both players' longevity is beyond proven too.

Fair comments.

Messi is the GOAT. History will remember him as the greatest ever, not a Ronaldo.

End of.

Read an interesting article on Ronaldinho, which said had he had the mentally and commitment to fitness that Ronaldo has, then he would have gone on to become the all-time greatest player.

He was a delight to watch. Played football with a smile on his face. He enjoyed it, but he enjoyed life also. It’s an interesting one - his personality on the pitch mirrored his life off it.

comment by RipleysCat (U1862)
posted 33 minutes ago
Read an interesting article on Ronaldinho, which said had he had the mentally and commitment to fitness that Ronaldo has, then he would have gone on to become the all-time greatest player.

He was a delight to watch. Played football with a smile on his face. He enjoyed it, but he enjoyed life also. It’s an interesting one - his personality on the pitch mirrored his life off it.
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Ronaldinho was an utterly sublime talent but I think he fulfilled his potential in the game. Messi and Ronaldo are another level, a level beyond anybody else.

comment by RipleysCat (U1862)
posted 38 minutes ago
Read an interesting article on Ronaldinho, which said had he had the mentally and commitment to fitness that Ronaldo has, then he would have gone on to become the all-time greatest player.

He was a delight to watch. Played football with a smile on his face. He enjoyed it, but he enjoyed life also. It’s an interesting one - his personality on the pitch mirrored his life off it.
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I would agree with that Ripley. Wait, did I agree with you??

It’s true to be fair. Ronaldinho was a bully, he’d literally humiliate defenders!

Never understood why he had to leave Barca. Never seen any player have so much fun on the pitch.

comment by One Love - Admin 3 (U1250)
posted 38 seconds ago
Never understood why he had to leave Barca. Never seen any player have so much fun on the pitch.
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He had to go. Stopped focusing, put weight on and was going to sleep at training due to his excessive lifestyle.

Glorified Jay Jay Okocha, at least one or two levels below Ronaldo & Messi