That old debate again…
We already established that it’s a matter of personal preference, right?
But hold on, that was before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Things have changed with Messi winning the most prestigious football award and Ronaldo signing for a local Saudi Arabian club. Or, have they?
Keep on reading to find out, but be advised – many football fans won’t like what’s coming.
After the mid-2000’s, when the all-star team of Real Madrid, having R9, Zidane, Raul and the likes, started to break down, I personally lost interest in football. I heard about the new Ronaldo by my college teammates, but at that time names like Kaka, Ronahldinho and even Rooney still had dominance.
About a year later, one of my friends was telling the other one “Of course you would defeat us, you have Messi”, referring to the 6-2 El Clasico game. That was the first time I’ve ever heard about the little man.
Time goes by, and by 2010, the argument of whether Messi or Ronaldo is better than the other was one of the two most popular 1vs1 arguments around. The other one was Samsung vs Apple. Yes.
And then the argument went on further. Messi and Ronaldo would work so hard to catch one another. Ridiculous numbers were achieved. 50 goals per season for each of these players started sounding normal, one of the two must win the Spanish Liga, the Copa del Rey, and/or the UEFA Champions League; and, for 10 years, the most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, must be given to one of the two, as they are better than the third player on the planet by a margin.
Gradually, the question was no longer who is better. It turned into who is the best player in football history instead, claiming that one of the two would beat Pelé, Maradona and other historical legends to the throne.
And it was justified.
By now, both players have outscored Pelé and Maradona’s official goals. Both of them have broken records and established new ones that seem to be difficult to break by any other player any time soon.
But… Is one of them really the greatest of all time?
Let’s start with a simpler question:
Who is better? Messi or Ronaldo?
I’m going to provide a straightforward answer here that not everyone will like. To make it fairer, for now let’s go back in time and consider that the 2022 World Cup hasn’t started. Who would be better? Messi or Ronaldo?
It’s a tough question. On one hand, Ronaldo has scored more goals at 3 top leagues, he’s also officially the top scorer of the game with 819 goals, including a distant record of 118 international goals. He can score with every possible body part you can imagine, often with his head (something that Messi fans would play dead when they remember), and overall has a much better physique. He also played in 3 of the top 5 European leagues and has deservedly won 5 Ballon d’Or awards (while some of Messi’s are “rigged”, according to some of Ronaldo’s fans…).
Messi, on the other hand, is not far behind in terms of goals (794), and considering that he played much less games, he has a better goal-to-game ratio. Furthermore, he has much more assists than Ronaldo (350 vs 234), or any other player in recorded history for that matter. He can play in any advanced place on the field. He can make killer passes from the midfield, make incredible dribbles past multiple defenders (something Ronaldo has only done rarely in the times when Nokia was the most popular phone brand), and he can do magical finishing with his golden left foot. He’s won more Ballon d’Or awards, and if you want to question those, you can do the same about Ronaldo’s. After all, during the past years, the world would simply not accept that someone other than the two could win.
If you’re interested in reading more about the career statistics of Messi and Ronaldo, there’s no place better than this: https://www.messivsronaldo.app/
So it’s safe to say that it’s hard to tell who’s better.
But wait a minute: It’s not only about the numbers.
We forgot an important factor – and I don’t mean the World Cup.
We’ve been comparing two players at two different stages of their careers, with Ronaldo being 2 years older and having played many more games.
The age difference seemed to be negligible when they were in their prime. But this seems to be an important factor in two phases: The dawn, and the twilight of their careers – i.e. nowadays.
So, Messi has done what is very closely comparable to what Ronaldo has done in a 2-season longer career.
That adds another meaning to the recent World Cup win where Messi shined as the best in the tournament and led his team to the most prestigious trophy. Messi is still going on, while Ronaldo can no longer play on the same level as the top players in the world. Ronaldo’s recent transfer to Al Nassr simply meant that he accepted that fate.
Sorry, Ronaldo fans, you’re running out of arguments here. Ronaldo was great, but Messi has won the Messi-Ronaldo duel eventually. Ronaldo simply cannot catch up this time, while Messi has the chance to break some of Ronaldo’s records now – he’s already started.
So that’s it?
Messi is the GOAT? Not that easily.
I’m not saying that because he isn’t, but because any answer here is biased. There are still other legends that are no longer playing who are candidates for this role: Muller, Maradona, Ronaldo, Zidane, but after considering all the numbers and achievements, probably Pelé here is the toughest argument for Messi.
It’s the same old Pelé vs Maradona debate, where Messi has probably outclassed Maradona and took his place in the argument – but the debate is still the same.
To begin with, Messi has won every major trophy he’s played for. He has much more trophies than the Pelé or Maradona.
Maradona was arguably more effective in the 1986 World Cup than Messi in 2022, but that’s debatable. Messi has led the team, scored three non-penalty goals and made some breathtaking assists. Other than the World Cup, though, Messi has clearly outclassed Maradona in almost every other aspect.
But then Pelé has THREE WORLD CUPS! Messi will never achieve that, even though he had the chance to. He’ll likely not even win a second one.
Also, if you count unofficial goals, Pelé still has more – a record that neither Messi no Ronaldo can ever reach.
Furthermore, if you watch Pelé’s videos from the time he was playing, he did dribble past players and make goals very well.
So, yeah. You may argue that Messi’s portfolio of trophies is more versatile, but saying that Messi is better than Pelé is not that easy statement. It’s still a matter of personal opinion, and will continue to be unless Messi does something really magical in the last few years of his career.
Eventually, there’s no doubt that all of these players were amazing history makers. They made generations fall in love with the game and we should just be pleased that we’ve enjoyed two of them, who formed, without a doubt this time, the greatest rivarly in the history of the game. Whether you believe Messi is the GOAT or not, the best thing to do now is, really, to enjoy what is left of their careers and look forward to the amazing rising talents, and wait for the star about whom our future generations will say “look, he’s better than Messi/Pelé/Maradona/Ronaldo”.
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