Messi or Ronaldo - Who's best

[David McKeown]

One of my mates put it perfectly I thought. One is the best traditional type footballer, skillful, low centre of gravity, ball on string etc. The other is the best modern type of football, supremely athletic, strong, quick etc.   Choosing between the two is a choice between traditional and modern football. A great dichotomy to get to watch.

All that said I still think Xavi in his prime was as good as Messi but I accept I can't back that up but I really loved Xavi and how he changed the game.

[Wildweasel74]

Paolo Maldini wouldn't have give either of them a kick of the ball.

[gallsman]

One of my mates put it perfectly I thought. One is the best traditional type footballer, skillful, low centre of gravity, ball on string etc. The other is the best modern type of football, supremely athletic, strong, quick etc.   Choosing between the two is a choice between traditional and modern football. A great dichotomy to get to watch.

All that said I still think Xavi in his prime was as good as Messi but I accept I can't back that up but I really loved Xavi and how he changed the game.

No offense but that's nonsense. If anything it's the reverse. Strength, power etc is far more associated with "traditional" football. Given your reference to ball-on-a-string footballers with a low centre of gravity as traditional footballers and then separate reference to Xavi, you may well recall the laughter in lots of the UK media when Xavi was nominated for the Ballon d'Or. Him, Iniesta, Messi etc weren't supposed to succeed. The reason they did was because the football they and Guardiola were playing was so different to anything before it.

Trying to pigeonhole either of them as modern or traditional is a futile exercise.

[seafoid]

Messi shades it, I think.

[GetOverTheBar]

One of my mates put it perfectly I thought. One is the best traditional type footballer, skillful, low centre of gravity, ball on string etc. The other is the best modern type of football, supremely athletic, strong, quick etc.   Choosing between the two is a choice between traditional and modern football. A great dichotomy to get to watch.

All that said I still think Xavi in his prime was as good as Messi but I accept I can't back that up but I really loved Xavi and how he changed the game.

Funny I've always found it was Iniesta that made Xavi look half decent.

[tonto1888]

My opinion, and that's all it is, is that Messi is a better footballer. Ronaldo is all pace and power, skillful too obviously, but Messi is the better footballer

[mouview]

Messi, night and day. Ronaldo, terrific finisher and goal scorer, but not a playmaker in the vein of Messi, who can do both. How many of his goals did he originate himself from outside the box?

[David McKeown]

One of my mates put it perfectly I thought. One is the best traditional type footballer, skillful, low centre of gravity, ball on string etc. The other is the best modern type of football, supremely athletic, strong, quick etc.   Choosing between the two is a choice between traditional and modern football. A great dichotomy to get to watch.

All that said I still think Xavi in his prime was as good as Messi but I accept I can't back that up but I really loved Xavi and how he changed the game.

Funny I've always found it was Iniesta that made Xavi look half decent.

Oh no give me Xavi any day. Changed the way the game was played. Before the last World Cup only 6 players had completed 100+ passes in a World Cup game. He had done it four times. Against Levante in his final season he was taken off after 67 minutes. Despite that he had more touches, more pass attempts, more successful passes and more time in possession than the entire Levante team had in 90 minutes. Granted he needed a good team around him and he always had that but for me he made them much better. 

[Tony Baloney]

Trying to pigeonhole either of them as modern or traditional is a futile exercise.

It could be said that the entire thread is tbf.

Most threads on here are.

[gallsman]

Trying to pigeonhole either of them as modern or traditional is a futile exercise.

It could be said that the entire thread is tbf.

Most threads on here are.

I disagree with that. Most are open ended.
This one is pick a side, without a tool to measure them.

Plenty of tools round these parts!

[Itchy]

Ronaldo is an outstanding player, in any other generation he would be easily regarded as the best in the world but Messi is a freak of nature, a player that it seems impossible to think that there could ever be a better one. Personally, I don't even understand how there is a debate on this question.

[Boycey]

Ronaldo is an outstanding player, in any other generation he would be easily regarded as the best in the world but Messi is a freak of nature, a player that it seems impossible to think that there could ever be a better one. Personally, I don't even understand how there is a debate on this question.

See you're mixing your opinion up with fact...

[TabClear]

Ronaldo is an outstanding player, in any other generation he would be easily regarded as the best in the world but Messi is a freak of nature, a player that it seems impossible to think that there could ever be a better one. Personally, I don't even understand how there is a debate on this question.

See you're mixing your opinion up with fact...

I agree with Itchy. Yes it's my opinion but in my view I can't see how it's even a debate either. Messi is simply on a different level to anyone I have seen play

[Boycey]

So it's impossible to think anyone else could ever be better?

[TabClear]

So it's impossible to think anyone else could ever be better?
[/quote

If that's a question to me, no. The nature of sport is that playerrs generally improve over time as training, coaching etc keeps improving. What I'm saying is that messi is the best I have ever seen by a distance. In my opinion obviously