Yet almost no one in this thread mentions him as Europe's best ever player.
Cristiano Ronaldo - Performances (wums will be thread banned)
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Overall he isn't as good as but in terms of goalscoring and pure hunger to go for more, he's better.
He just always wants to score goals. The way he has adapted his game has given him more time to play at the highest level for another couple of years.
Very intelligent player and will always be a threat to the opposition.
Very intelligent player and will always be a threat to the opposition.
What a player.
No when he was younger he was already better than Quaresma or any other player at the academy.
Come on there were constant debates about who was better but the truth is they were around the same ability wise and the same age. My point stands that Ronaldo shouldn't have been able to achieve what he has at his base footballing ability but he has got there through shire determination and will to be the best.
Bollocks. Quresma's a flashy clown, who's just easy on the eye.
What base ability are you talking about? Ronaldo was probably the most athletically gifted athlete in football at his best- quick, strong, light on his feet with body of a brute (by footballing standards). His fundamentals are almost impeccable (first touch, control), he was a pretty impressive finisher from pretty much the start (he was scoring unusually high amount headers for a winger even as a teenager) and he strikes the ball as well as anyone.
If you have that combination of such elite athleticism combined with his basics, he was always going to be at least a very good/great player unless something massively went wrong.
As a comparison;
By the end of 2004 Ronaldo had 18 caps and 7 goals for Portugal at the age of 19. By the same time Quaresma had 2 caps and 0 goals at the age of 20. And that was well before Ronaldo became a 40+ goal a season machine.
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I'm talking about at a young age mate. They were of a similar ability no point being pedantic. We have seen many players with the basic abilities that Ronaldo has but none has ever had the determination and will to win the way he has which is what makes him great. Messi like players like Maradona, cruyff etc had a natural ability that Ronaldo just never had even someone like Del Piero had more natural ability than Ronaldo (nothing against Del piero hes one of my favourite players ever) but look what he has gone on to achieve its ridiculous.
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I think the difference between Ronaldo and RQ (make this most players) is that Ronaldo is consumed by a burning desire to be the greatest and will do whatever he can to achieve that. Wasn't it Jese who said that on his first day training with the seniors he turned up two hours early to impress the coaches and as he drove in he saw that Ronaldo was already on the training pitch.
This is the main point and has been reiterated by ever manager he has had. He just constantly works to get better he is the perfect model for anyone who wants to achieve something great.
My only wish is he kept the dribbling of his earlier days. That 06/07 Ronaldo mixed with the current goal hungry Ronaldo would have been something else.
Absolutely. There's also a story from his Sporting days that someone from the club saw that the lights were on at the club training centre late at night and they sent down security to see what was going on - it was Ronaldo going at it
Absolutely. There's also a story from his Sporting days that someone from the club saw that the lights were on at the club training centre late at night and they sent down security to see what was going on - it was Ronaldo going at it
Yep it happened alot. Also stories about him doing incredible exercises with weights around his ankles. When he was at the youth ranks, José Semedo (now playing at Sheffield Wednesday) said that Ronaldo used to tell his youth rank teammates (with his heavy Madeira accent) that he would one day become the world best player. Everyone would laugh and mock him, guess they stop laughing when they saw him at full throttle at United. Aurélio Pereira, our Academy director (who found him, Quaresma, Figo, Moutinho etc) said that he was the most professional and dedicated player he ever saw. The closest was Figo who was also a very dedicated player but Ronaldo was at the top. Regarding the who was more talented player question, it was neither Ronaldo or Quaresma. The most talented (skill wise) player was Fábio Paim. Even Ronaldo said that he was the most amazing youth rank player he ever saw.
Nah I doubt he would change his focus back to the dribbling aspect of his game. There are tons of players who could dribble well, but very few players got the end products. I think Ronaldo is long done with the trickery/show-pony period, he just want goals which to him is the ultimate glory on the pitch, which also does mean everything to everyone.
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My enduring memory of him in a United shirt (aside from all those utterly ridiculous goals) was the rare feeling of knowing that I was watching someone who could do whatever he wanted. He seemed to play without limits. Everything was possible. He was - and continues to be - an absolute force of nature.
I'd agree with all that except his finishing. I'd probably call it poor when he first arrived here. So it's mightily impressive to see him improve it so much.
Never seen a player with such desire. It's like he was on something last night.
I was talking about his form before that. Even then though, I don't think he played very well against Barcelona.
Great by all accounts last night, which was their most important game in ages so deserves a lot of credit for it. I've criticised him a lot for failing to step up (performance wise, not goal wise) so It'd be wrong not to point out when he does.
I went to watch Portugal vs Brazil in 07 and Quaresma looked incredible. He just had no desire and application to be great.
He was happy with what he had.
He was happy with what he had.
This man is a machine.
Sort of resent Ronaldo, bit like a jilted Ex, can't bear to watch all his explosive exploits, can't help thinking why couldn't you fall in love with our club and stay forever, ha ha I sound like a bleeding schoolgirl that's still in love !!
( but I bet I'm not alone )
( but I bet I'm not alone )Exactly.
Also, I think Fergie is a genius on handling him. He recognize that Ronaldo could be a goalscorer and made those bets with him every season regarding the amount of goals he should scored.
Well luckily an entire players worth isn't defined by awards. There's no shame in being second to Messi.
It's not really the award itself that's important. It's the opinion of the experts (who as I said previously hopefully know way more about football than I do) who chose to give him that award. In their opinion for three years out of eight, Ronaldo was the best player in the world.
If there is 1 thing that Ronaldo has over Messi, is that sheer desire and the fire to win.
It's time to consolidate next year's golden ball...
Although Portugal inevitably flopping out of the euros might ruin it anyway.
Although Portugal inevitably flopping out of the euros might ruin it anyway.
Balon D'or is his to take if he wants it.
Things are setting up nicely for him to win the next ballon d'Or.
There is a actually a big gulf between the two when it comes to what you described. It's not even close.
Well last time reaching the semi's and narrowly losing to Spain is considered flopping out?
Could win his 4th Ballon D'Or to Messi's 5. Who'd have thought that.
No that isn't considered flopping out. What has euro '12 got to do with my prediction for a horrendous Portugal team to flop in euro '16?
Why is our team horrendous? It's actually better than the Euro2012 team bar the usual lack of strikers. We qualified without needing the usual playoff and we beat teams such as Argentina and Italy in friendly matches. The 2016 team has better full backs, better center backs and more options in the midfield than we ever had in recent past. I'm actually more confident than in 2012
Let's hope you are right and that Ronaldo can have his success on this stage as well.
Well i think we will confortably qualify out of the groups and then it all depends on who we get. I think we have a very interesting team but the lack of striker is a concern since Ronaldo has said multiple times that he dislikes playing there. If there is a miracle and we ever get a decent striker, i think we can win a competition. We have everything else.
God I will love Ronaldo and Portugal to win a major trophy. Can't believe Portugal haven't won one.
Hard to judge cos Messi has won a lot more so its kinda easier for him to lose desire. Ronaldo for all his goals in the last 6/7 years, he has won very little.
Yeah Greece happened unfortunately. We have ourselves and Scolari to blame though. Greece deserved it. We have been close with 1 euro final, 2 semi's and 1 world cup semi final but the lack of a decent striker always kills our chances. This next Euro and World Cup are probably Ronaldo last chances. Thankfully we have alot of interesting players coming up. A positive phase in portuguese football (bar strikers as usual since Eusébio
)I mean the specific hunger for scoring goals, not trophies. I feel like Ronaldo would still wanna score them if he was as successful as Messi.
Yeah Greece happened unfortunately. We have ourselves and Scolari to blame though. Greece deserved it. We have been close with 1 euro final, 2 semi's and 1 world cup semi final but the lack of a decent striker always kills our chances. This next Euro and World Cup are probably Ronaldo last chances. Thankfully we have alot of interesting players coming up. A positive phase in portuguese football (bar strikers as usual since Eusébio
Shame you can't even take one from Brazil with the shit they're producing in that dept, unless you guys fancy a bit of Fred action.
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