Cristiano Ronaldo - performances 2017/18

MUFC OK said:
Greatest player of all time doing his thing. At 33 he must be in the physical shape of a 25 year old.

Without being drawn into the age old debate, those who have always advocated messi over him (Barca, Liverpool fans) must even be doubting themselves now.
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You misspelled non United, Real, Sporting, Portugal fans. ;)

I always saw Messi as the clear better one. At the moment I really have to applaud Ronaldo. It's the first time I could see the consensus in 10 years something like "Messi had more talent and was flashier, but Ronaldo still dominated with his drive, professionalism and winning mentality". The EC 2016 didn't really do much for me in this regard as his performance wasn't anything special for me (and no contribution in the final).

So regardless who is seen as better, just wanted to acknowledge he is killing it at the moment. Good for him!

Pogue Mahone said:
I’m not getting into the debate either but you’re bonkers if you think that rating Messi over Ronaldo is something which is only predominant amongst fans of Barca or Liverpool.
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And this.
 
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MrEleson said:
Unfortunately for Ronaldo, Portugal simply aren't good enough to win the WC. For me he is top 2 all-time even without it.
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He's won the European Championship, that alone is enough. When the great players are in lesser teams, winning any one of the Euros/Copa or the WC should do for a monumental achievement.
 
cyberman said:
But then this Portugal side is nowhere near that German team.
I also think modern day CL is harder to dominate but its still ridiculous all the same.
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yeah, just saying what a incredible time he had too.

Ronaldo is having time of his life.
 
roonster09 said:
Gerd Muller had one of these too.

Euro 72, World Cup 74
European Cup: 74,75, 76
League: 72, 73, 74
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Gerd Muller is a great comparison for Ronaldo. Gerd's always been tremendously underrated in the grand scheme of things, monstrous goalscorer on every stage. If he did it today....well, he'd be in the chat clearly. I'm not sure he features in many top 10s.
 
We have no chance of winning the World Cup and anyone who's watched us play knows that. A run to the quarter finals would already be fantastic. To get further than that we'd need a lot of luck and a great draw.
 
Peyroteo said:
We have no chance of winning the World Cup and anyone who's watched us play knows that. A run to the quarter finals would already be fantastic. To get further than that we'd need a lot of luck and a great draw.
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Thought you had no chance of winning the Euros......also thought Wales had no chance of beating Belgium.

I'm pretty certain there is chance this can open up favourably for a semi run if things go right and Portugal top the group.
 
Zen said:
Thought you had no chance of winning the Euros......also thought Wales had no chance of beating Belgium.

I'm pretty certain there is chance this can open up favourably for a semi run if things go right and Portugal top the group.
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Lord Eder is not in the squad.
 
cyberman said:
But then this Portugal side is nowhere near that German team.
I also think modern day CL is harder to dominate but its still ridiculous all the same.
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Not so sure about the second part. Since 2006 from 13 CL finals Barca or Real has won 8 of them.

That hasn't happened since the very beginning of the tournament where Real won 5 in a row.

The old format would mean that either Barca or Real will miss out every year, which will make it a lot easier to the other teams.
 
Peyroteo said:
We have no chance of winning the World Cup and anyone who's watched us play knows that. A run to the quarter finals would already be fantastic. To get further than that we'd need a lot of luck and a great draw.
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You are too lopsidedly reliant on Cristiano this year imo. The 2004 squad that made the Euro finals had the likes of Figo, Deco, Maniche, Ricky Carvalho, Pauleta and others to compliment a very young CR7. Same in 2006 adding the likes of Simao and now a world class Ronnie. The 2016 squad with Nani still there was even better than this one imo.
 
Enigma_87 said:
Not so sure about the second part. Since 2006 from 13 CL finals Barca or Real has won 8 of them.

That hasn't happened since the very beginning of the tournament where Real won 5 in a row.

The old format would mean that either Barca or Real will miss out every year, which will make it a lot easier to the other teams.
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The old format had a lot of dross though while Barca have won it 2 in 8/9 years.
Every single top side is in the CL these days, every single one.
Don't forget how hard it is to defend the CL, Madrid winning 3 in a row is beyond ridiculous. We may never see it again in our lifetime.
 
cyberman said:
The old format had a lot of dross though while Barca have won it 2 in 8/9 years.
Every single top side is in the CL these days, every single one.
Don't forget how hard it is to defend the CL, Madrid winning 3 in a row is beyond ridiculous. We may never see it again in our lifetime.
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Yes, indeed.

However if it was the old format Real would've qualified for only one of their 4 titles, so I guess it balances out.
 
matherto said:
Bull in a china shop springs to mind.

He was so explosive that he was unplayable as a kid.

It was after the metatarsals and the cards racking up that he calmed down and we lost the real Wayne Rooney.
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The biggest thing that people chose to ignore. Yeah he was no Giggs when it came to fitness but those injuries brought down our wazza...
 
Ronaldo is the Federer/Nadal of Football,no more superlatives left and I for one without any hesitation would love to see him back at Utd this summer!
 
cyberman said:
The old format had a lot of dross though while Barca have won it 2 in 8/9 years.
Every single top side is in the CL these days, every single one.
Don't forget how hard it is to defend the CL, Madrid winning 3 in a row is beyond ridiculous. We may never see it again in our lifetime.
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But back in thr 70s and 80s the top sides were all over eutope. Not in 4 leagues.
 
Reynoldo said:
He looks so focused alright, the man is a machine.

If Fat Ronaldo was the Phenom what can we dub this man? (apart from GOAT)
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Ronaldo Lima was something else. He's as prodigy and you can hardly say the same about Cristiano. His mentality, consistency and so on are unreal but ability-wise El Phenomenon probably resides in a league of his own. Really sad that he never came to realize it to its full extent. Otherwise there would probably be no GOAT discussions anymore.


But Cristiano is having a brillant WC so far. Not bad.
 
Raoul said:
You are too lopsidedly reliant on Cristiano this year imo. The 2004 squad that made the Euro finals had the likes of Figo, Deco, Maniche, Ricky Carvalho, Pauleta and others to compliment a very young CR7. Same in 2006 adding the likes of Simao and now a world class Ronnie. The 2016 squad with Nani still there was even better than this one imo.
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Why exactly was Nani not selected in the WC squad?
Surely he cant be worse than this lot.
 
Zen said:
Gerd Muller is a great comparison for Ronaldo. Gerd's always been tremendously underrated in the grand scheme of things, monstrous goalscorer on every stage. If he did it today....well, he'd be in the chat clearly. I'm not sure he features in many top 10s.
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This Portuguese guy might be the reason for that German guy to reenter top X conversations.
 
roonster09 said:
Gerd Muller had one of these too.

Euro 72, World Cup 74
European Cup: 74,75, 76
League: 72, 73, 74
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Beckenbauer was the best player of those Bayern and West Germany sides though. Müller's best year was in 1970
 
van der star said:
He barely played for Lazio last season, and he was rather terrible when he did get a chance.
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My thoughts. Surely he's a better choice than Guedes (who seems to0 green) as he was terrible today or even Martins who was horrible. His experience would have been useful at the very least.
 
MrEleson said:
My thoughts. Surely he's a better choice than Guedes (who seems to0 green) as he was terrible today or even Martins who was horrible. His experience would have been useful at the very least.
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Martins was alright when he came on.
 
MrEleson said:
My thoughts. Surely he's a better choice than Guedes (who seems to0 green) as he was terrible today or even Martins who was horrible. His experience would have been useful at the very least.
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I'd like to think so but Nani played a total of 630 minutes in all of last season. Hard to see any coach picking a player who's played so little.
 
He was pretty shite today in all honesty. Misplaced passes, poor first touch a lot of the time, ballooned that shot over the bar and wasted two great free kick chances.

Got the goal and played a great pass for Guedes who should’ve scored, but his general play was bad, and after his 10/10 performance against Spain I was surprised this afternoon.

Still was Portugal’s second best player (after Patricio) and that says it all about how terrible they were today.
 
LennonNL said:
Martins was alright when he came on.
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He was poor from what I say. Apart from his first piece of nice play where he linked up with Ronaldo, he had terrible touches and gave the ball away in dangerous areas.
 
I like what he's doing with the whole goat thing. Putting pressure on Messi and getting in his head in hope to outperform him in this World Cup is probably his only chance of bettering Messi in the goat discussion. If he has better achievements than him, then that should rival any differences in "beautiful dribbling" when discussing who is the best.
 
Peyroteo said:
We have no chance of winning the World Cup and anyone who's watched us play knows that. A run to the quarter finals would already be fantastic. To get further than that we'd need a lot of luck and a great draw.
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Or you need Cristiano to play like the greatest player ever
 
Zehner said:
Ronaldo Lima was something else. He's as prodigy and you can hardly say the same about Cristiano. His mentality, consistency and so on are unreal but ability-wise El Phenomenon probably resides in a league of his own. Really sad that he never came to realize it to its full extent. Otherwise there would probably be no GOAT discussions anymore.


But Cristiano is having a brillant WC so far. Not bad.
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Ronaldo Lima is one of my favourite players of all times, he was an absolute joy to watch. Best striker I have seen in my lifetime in terms of talent but sadly as you say he didn't have the longevity to back it up. You have to factor everything into these accounts though and that also includes drive and length of time consistency doing it at the top of their game for which people argue at the moment (rightly or wrongly) that C. Ronaldo is better than Messi even though ability wise Messi is obviously the more naturally talented. I think when you weigh it all up then you have to say C. Ronaldo comes out on top of the two Ronnies.

Anyway my point was not to belittle OG Ronaldo just to emphasise how exceptional C. Ronaldo is continuing to be year on year.
 
giorno said:
Or you need Cristiano to play like the greatest player ever
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We could have someone who is twice as good as Pele or Maradona were and we'd be unlikely to get there, that's how it is.

If we are going to get far, we're going to get far as a proper team and we're going to need plenty of luck on the way there.
 
Zen said:
Gerd Muller is a great comparison for Ronaldo. Gerd's always been tremendously underrated in the grand scheme of things, monstrous goalscorer on every stage. If he did it today....well, he'd be in the chat clearly. I'm not sure he features in many top 10s.
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Well for many people he is. As the guy was almost unplayable for 5 years. He was a unbelievable goalscorer and won his club and country many games. If people base this on trickery and showboating he is not there but if its based on skill, character and determenation he clearly is. He got the Nickname "Bomber der national" from somewhere and it was rather fitting.
 
Zehner said:
Ronaldo Lima was something else. He's as prodigy and you can hardly say the same about Cristiano. His mentality, consistency and so on are unreal but ability-wise El Phenomenon probably resides in a league of his own. Really sad that he never came to realize it to its full extent. Otherwise there would probably be no GOAT discussions anymore.


But Cristiano is having a brillant WC so far. Not bad.
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Both Cristiano and Messi at their peaks were better then Ronaldo at his peak. It's not just consistency with them. He was amazing, but Messi at his absolute peak is better then anyone ever, while Ronaldo is up there as well and probably nobody can match him in terms of big moments and success. I loved Brazilian ronaldo, but he just isnt on their level beyond a what could have been aspect if he had the mentality to possibly reach that level (which he never did).
 
Hank S said:
You misspelled non United, Real, Sporting, Portugal fans. ;)

I always saw Messi as the clear better one. At the moment I really have to applaud Ronaldo. It's the first time I could see the consensus in 10 years something like "Messi had more talent and was flashier, but Ronaldo still dominated with his drive, professionalism and winning mentality". The EC 2016 didn't really do much for me in this regard as his performance wasn't anything special for me (and no contribution in the final).

So regardless who is seen as better, just wanted to acknowledge he is killing it at the moment. Good for him!


And this.
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Some will be unswayed either way in this debate, probably the bodies of fans you have mentioned on the whole and the ones I mentioned. Amongst more 'neutral' fans there is probably an even split of opinion.

I think Ronaldo's form over the last 4 years really has been more than simply a case of 'good for him', in that timeframe alone he has replicated if not surpassed the most successful period of Messi's career, personally and in terms of trophies won. Ronaldo has got a major international trophy too which was a stick many used to beat him with. He is now approaching his 5th Ballon D'or in 6 years and that, whichever way you look at it is a game changer in the debate.

I would caveat by saying Messi in 2012 is probably the greatest individual year ever but since then he has only won 1 Ballon d'or and Ronaldo has left him behind in my opinion. Obviously the BDor isn't everything but its a pretty damn good barometer for the best player in the World for the year its given.
 
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