A slightly unfashionable choice but he was for a time the deadliest box striker in Europe( maybe even the best ever pure goalscorer the french league ever saw) I think his legacy took a hit because he was born in a bad generation between platini and Zidane and he also failed in Italy for Milan Between 1989 and 1992 he was the European Cup top scorer 3 times,a ballon dor winner,multiple ligue 1top scorer titles(when it was a much better league) it is actually quite possible he was ahead of Romario during this period after which the Brazilian took over from 92-94
His shooting here wasn’t at it’s finest but the Way he completely owned this team was actually frightening Nobody can objectively look at R9 97/98 particularly in the uefa Cup and say this wasn’t a top 10 player in history This may not be an accurate representation of his normal form(especially against bigger teams)but on his day he put on performances that were above and beyond only a handful of players There are still some who insist his best was at Barcelona based on his goal tally The phenomenon was born in Italy that was his best against the best defenders in the best league in Europe As a 2 consecutive year peak 1997 and 1998 R9 up until the World Cup final is the possibly a top 5-10 player ever Lack of dominant big games prevent him from challenging the absolute elite His post injury form although still world class lowers him to 10-15 IMO Van basten would by my reckoning based on the very high possibility that we already saw his best(despite the early retirement) Rank between 15-25 Alongside Zidane who had a significantly lesser club career but a significantly greater NT career which balances it out I would put Xavi and baggio there aswell (and some others) Romario would rank as borderline top 50 with Ronaldinho gaucho,hristo stoichkov,Rivaldo,iniesta,Ruud gullit with Neymar/Kaka/Henry/figo/Suarez closely following behind as 60-80
All by one touch 1989/90 He scored the most goals in history in a single La Liga season He was the joint record holder alongside athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra until it was broken by CR and Messi several times in the 2010s
I remember how excited I was when we signed him. Unfortunate that he didn't work out for us. Years later, we'd sign Eduardo, another player with a magical left foot. Unfortunately an injury ended his career as well
7 goal involvements in a single match (not sure about the level opposition but nonetheless still outstanding) Only Luis Suarez (and not even ronaldo or Messi)has managed this in La Liga against Deportivo in 15/16 (4 goals +3 assists) https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....for-messi-in-deportivo-rout-tweets-stats/amp/ Van Basten also did manage to score 6 goals in a single match against Sparta Rotterdam in 85/86 Not many in the last 30 or so years managed this feat of scoring 5 goals in 2 different matches In comparison I don’t think R9 even scored 4 goals in a single game during his whole professional career
He did that once, against Mypa in 1995: https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=...=jcgifji2C30&usg=AOvVaw281Meq6p5VD-KH7jHYDfEk
Great goals regardless of opposition. R9 scored 5 goals + 1 assist as a teenager vs Bahia. 2 PKs and not that high quality of goals. Ironically enough best goal was a header.
Yes Malta is of course dubious opposition. An Elo rank of #96 - although equally poor nations have qualified for the World Cup. At the same time, this were some quality goals and it was Malta's largest defeat since the famous 12-1 away against Spain in 1983. Others as Italy (three times), West Germany (twice) and Spain again (twice) did not inflict the same damage, and came 'only' to 6-0 at their home ground or worse. They haven't been beaten by this margin (0-8) since, even with goal difference used as tie breaker. Luckily this was not the only time he scored 4 goals or more, it wasn't a one off. So the prime doesn't stop at Malta. Although there were issues with injuries and/or consistency (less so in terms of making teams demonstrably better), it is to me clear MvB had some high peaks. He was the first since the 1950s to score a hat-trick against England, first since Serie A opened borders to score 4 goals in a game, scored 4 goals in a CL game (+ 1 incorrectly disallowed) which was de facto the quarter final, and so on. Also his 1985-86 league season and scoring 10 goals in a CL campaign was a high peak (for that time). There are a couple outliers and/or groundbreaking 'firsts' to mention here.
^ So apparently this was and still is Malta's biggest home defeat (0-8), surpassing the 0-5 of Sweden in 1986.
https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=romario+vs+atletico+de+madrid+ One of the games where romario looked like one of the greats(top 20) Maybe his best in a barcelona shirt Including 3 goals+1 assist+1 earned penalty he did not take and i think a wrongly disallowed goal A very productive game with some amazing quality( and against a reasonably good opponent) Did not see enough of this type of perfornance from him to be a challenger for a CF like eusebio or van basten Still think his prime(however short) was more impressive(at least technically) than suarez even though the latter has IMO matched him for longevity at the highest level
Agree with you, probably his best performance ever. Where are @greatstriker11 ? Pipiolo? Giles? James?There are too many others performances that come close imo. I could include some in Brazil, but I know Corinthians or Palmeiras are not Real madrid and Manchester level. But we have take in consideration that people who rate Romario very highly take his whole career in the equation, not only his one year and a half in Barcelona. Basically every brazilian and even the president was asking for a 36 years old Romario to be called to WC02, that´s say something about how he was still a great striker back then. Sadly he broke his leg before the WC90(and still was called, that´s say something about his value in 90) and lost WC98 due to injury too. I´m out of form here, but from what I remember: (3 goals after being defeated in the first leg by runner up of prior year EC) (3 goals + 1 assist in El Clasico, very famous performance) (last game of the WC94 qualifies, all over the place and dominating performance vs Uruguay - 2 goals) (great all around game in the WC semifinal vs Sweden, famous wasted chance - 1 goal) (1 great goal, 1 assist and 1 pre assist vs Manchester United) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ0IWpLmmw4&t=121s (1 goal, 1 assist for Bebeto and the famous double sombrero vs Maradona´s Argentina in CA89). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdIMuo7fYuM (3 goals vs Atletico Madrid in the away game, one of them with a brilliant sombrero) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_abBpfDPUsk (2 great goals vs a strong Ajax team) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhhxLlHFR4U (1 brilliant goal and a great individual performance vs best defense that I ever seen - Baresi, Maldini and costacurta).
R9 had so many amazing plays where he dribbled passed players that unfortunately didn't turn into goals. Some underrated megs. At 4:10 takes so much body control. The way he stops on a dime and then just goes is insane. The one at 4:39 if you slow down, it's as if he makes the ball hop to bait the defender and then megs him. And the one at 5:11 where he juggles the ball in front of the opponent to bring him in for a meg. I mean ... who does that ? Not necessarily productive yeah, but very entertaining and skilled.
Yes there is an elegance/beauty in his nutmegs that looks more natural Compared to the rough and "ugly" panna technique of suarez whereby he Forces the ball between the defenders legs The double panna is iconic move of R9(at 4:01) The balance of R9 is what always astonishes me the most even more than his acceleration which others had(henry,bale....walcott) there are many natural/conventional dribblers id put ahead of him even from his own era However the total athletic and technical skillset of R9 made him more dangerous then them all I can see the argument that he is a top 5 ever dribbler But i can also see the opposite too(especially in big matches where his dribbling was hardly ever a factor) The first few clips where he is taking on 3-5 defenders are against China(even hulk bullied these people) Stratsborg,schalke,lecce 98(relegation),some obscure dutch teams and regional teams in brazil The move where he destroyed the whole chilean team in copa 99 was superb but that competition was a complete joke to the best of my knowledge I love R9(he was my first "idol") but it is clear that he never ever was a devestating dribbleron the big stage as its called today His invincibility and fenomeno form(even at his peak) was mostly against not even 2nd rate teams(mid table) but 3rd rate and even below Messi has these highlights against atletico and real during his dribbling prime 2007-2013 R9 is like CR in that sense that more often than not they looked devastating on the ball against lesser teams At least for CR he was able to develop other weapons outside of dribbling to hurt any team(his header,long shot,crosses,FK,off the ball movement etc)
Probably most people around the world would answer the OP question with `Ronaldo, no doubt`, but I don´t think it´s a black and white situation. For instance, If I had to choose a striker for Messi´s Barcelona, I would go with Romario out of this bunch. I think he had the best first touch, the best 1-2 and was the best of the bunch in the tight spaces of the penalty area. His combination with Messi would be unstopabble. Ronaldo, on the other hand, would be my choice for any counter attack oriented team, as he was the best in carrying the ball in long distances , the fastest, the best speed dribbler and great in long passes too. As we used to discuss here, Ronaldo style is more ´spetacular` and more individualist, he could carry a team attack on his own, hence I understand why he is the most popular striker ever. Van Basten would be my choice for a flank oriented team, as he was the best in the air. He also seems more versatile, the best passer and the best in long range finishing out of the bunch, but I need to watch more of him, I have a hard time finding his best individual performances on youtube (with all his touches) .
@Bruford thanks for tagging me. Haven't been on BS for over a year now. Too busy with work and all. Indeed, where are Pipiolo and Giles ? One can argue that Romario vs Steua Bucharest 88/89 Champions League performance is slightly better than vs Atletico. Being champions league and considering that PSV had lost to Steau Bucharest in the first leg and needed to score something like 5 goals difference in the second leg to have a chance to the next round. Steua Bucharest was no easy opponent. They had a great league run that year and beat PSV in the first leg. Romario scored a hat-trick. His 3rd goal was a master piece! @carlito86 , although it is true that Romario vs Atletico Madrid is considered among his best at club level, as of his own opinion, this high level of play is not limited to this one single match only. Actually, s of the opinion of most Barca fans, his performance in El Clasico, vs Real, is even more memorable and influential than vs Atletico. There are many other matches throughout his long career, with club and NT, in which he performed at such a high level. Many matches in which he was influential. He was influential vs Uruguay 93 in the last WC94 qualifiers match, Brazil was under the thread of missing out a WC for the first time in history. He was influential vs Manchester United 94/95 UCL. He was influential vs Argentina and Uruguay 89 Copa America finals (nutmegged Maradona and then did that double sombrero). He was influential vs all opponents in WC94 (hence, his golden ball award). A list of influential matches, for both club and NT, would be very long.
Edmundo was also a great striker in his prime, at least with Brazilian clubs. Wasn't it for his antics and bad manners, he would have gone on to do greater things in his career. Guess, lack of discipline and ethics cut his chances with the NT. Brazil's NT managers never trusted him. But given the right circumstances he might have been a great NT striker, no doubt. extremely technical for a striker
@celito The move at 6:20-6:24 does it have a name? Its one of those skills that i never saw others as dinho,CR(or lately neymar)pull off On the ground i think he even beats maradona in skills In the air(especially with ball control,trapping with any part of his body,sombrero etc)diego was much better Frankly so were others as pele who had good aerial skills (famously vs sweden in 58 and unconfirmed reports of the triple sombrero vs "juventus") Romario too,CR,dinho,neymar etc
No name. But Jay-Jay Okocha used to do it. The one at 6:29 I've never seen anybody do it but I wouldn't doubt other players have done it.