I used to think Ronaldo was a bit underapreciated until 2012, but his post 2013 form is so overrated among casual fans (labeled as greatest goalscorer of all times, greatest european player ever, greatest personality ever, greatest big game player ever while watching his teammates carrying him in most semi and finals that he played) that I simply can not associate Ronaldo with the word ´underestimated´ under any circumstance.
A lot can happen before Ronaldo doesn't win Ballon d'Or. with bit of luck Mbapbe may win 1 or even 2 more world cup. And Ronaldo retires, then Mbapbe's status is moved from outside top 3 to best player in the world. When will Ronaldo retire? 2025? in 2025 Mbapbe will be the next ballandor winner that isnt Cr7
How do you even see that far in the future? You're talking about events happening 4-8 years from now.
It was tongue-in-cheek I think, with some exaggeration sprinkled in (though not totally untrue). Everything is rated a little higher when its CR7 doing it, which makes it tougher for someone else to win the BD since they have to do things more often and better just to be rated the same. Take, for instance, CR7's chileno in the CL quarters being a nominee for FIFA goal of the year while Bale's superior chileno isn't (even though it happening in the final). Or how CR7 scoring in 4 different WCs was turned into a big deal, even though he scored exactly one goal in 3 of those tournaments (classic case of turning shit into gold). I wouldn't rule out Mbappe in 2022, although he would need at least a hat-trick in the WC final just in case CR7 gets another hat-trick in some group stage game.
I see what you're saying but although Mbappe is capable of winning a Ballon d'or let's not forget that Mbappe wasn't even a serious contender for this years ballon d'or or the next winner before the World Cup started. The World Cup has distorted everything. Most people were saying Neymar, De Bruyne, or Salah. Even at the WC, you could make a case that there was no stand out player from France although they did play well collectively. At the end of the day, Modric won player of the tournament, and although his WC performance was good it was not something to remember. And let's not forget, people were talking about Modric winning ballon d'or if he had won the World Cup. I also find it funny that after the WC, Real Madrid makes a statement that Modric somehow has a 750 million buyout clause. And that may be an exaggeration but that's a HUGE exaggeration! Of course, it's hard to predict how the season will go but I think Neymar will still lead PSG and if Salah has anything similar to last season (highly unlikely), I give him a good chance to win it. Of course, Messi could win it and maybe someone unexpected has a break out season although I doubt to the same extent that Salah had last year.
Superior how ,because it was from further out? Ronaldo's bicycle was technically perfect,scored against the greatest goalkeeper of the last 25 years in a champions quarter final ,in Turin (not to mention the standing ovation that is extremely rare to recieve from opposing fans) That has to be the greatest narrative behind a goal since r9 against Germany in the World Cup final 2002(scoring twice after going missing in the 98 final) And maradona against England and the whole falklands backdrop (Argentina couldn't defeat England on the battlefield but maradona made sure as hell they would do so on the football pitch) Karius was demoralised after the benzema blunder (show me one instance of any team conceding 2 goals in a champions league final because of two goalkeeping errors) The fact that bale (a legitimate top 10 player of this era even with injuries)scored a bicycle in a champions league final deserves his plaudits and for certain was one of THE great goals in champions league history but if ronaldo was to win the award it would be fully and totally deserved Question Was owairans (who?)goal in the World Cup 1998 better than messi vs getafe 2007 and bilbao 2015 because the World Cup >Copa del Rey
^ Good example of inflating the difficulty of everything Ronaldo does. Against greatest keeper of last 25 years? lol what does that have to do with it? CR7's chileno came on a broken-play. That meaning, Juve turned the ball over so all their defenders were out of position. That allowed the Madrid forward to hit a high, soft lob to Ronaldo. Bale's chileno came during a regular Madrid possession with Liverpool having everyone back defending. So instead of being afforded to lob the ball high to Bale, Marcelo had to hit a line-drive cross towards him, making the degree of difficulty much higher. Also CL quarterfinal first-leg versus a 1-1 game in the CL final with under 30 minutes left.
This is a common phenomenon @BocaFan. And you are correct. Although I believe CR7s bicycle kick was technically better than Bale's, Ronaldo's bicycle kick was nothing truly special. That shot has been made hundreds and hundreds of times throughout history. But Ronaldo's bicycle kick is deemed higher because it is ronaldo. And because of human nature, people will justify their reasoning for deeming Ronaldo's bicycle kick as superior to bale's. But you can best believe that had ronaldo scored bale's bicycle and bale scored Ronaldo's, people would find all kinds of reasons to deem Ronaldo's as superior. It's apparent that @carlito86 was taking it as an attack on ronaldo which it wasn't. It's just a truth that you stated. The same applies for Messi or any other great player. There seems to be more of a credibility to something when someone has an emotional connection to people, which great players have to their audience
Okay so scoring a bicycle kick isn't special because hundreds of players have scored similar type goals Going by this line of understanding many lesser players have also scored better goals than messi's trademark solo goals does that mean they are also nothing special And there are other examples from dejan savicevic,Diego maradona scoring solo goals vs 4-5 players Ronaldo's goal was special ,iconic and stupendous (and don't forget ronaldo was the player who initially capitalised on juventus defensive mistake) Only select players have received standing ovations Maradona 83/84 vs Real Madrid Ronaldinho vs Real Madrid Ronaldo vs Manchester United Cristiano ronaldo vs juventus You simply can't understate the fact that he recieved a standing ovation by opposition fans
Dude. You're getting so defensive and your missing the point. Given the conversation, you are completely throwing my statements out of context. And at this point, it's obvious you are not willing to admit the fact that when great players score goals it will be seen as greater than if another player were to do it. You can't make a definitive statement that Ronaldo's bicycle was actually better than Bale's. In terms of importance and difficulty. Yes of course Ronaldo's bike against Juventus was World class. Without question. But Bales in terms of difficulty and importance isn't far off from Ronaldo's. Although in terms of aesthetics, I like Ronaldo's better. And what does a standing ovation have to do with the greatness of a goal over another average player doing the same thing. I have never seen an average player getting a standing ovation for scoring a great goal. It has more to do with the status of the player Next, you saying a goal is better than Messi's is an opinion. Again, you're missing the point. We are talking about 2 players scoring the same type of goal. And again, when comparing goals, we are also considering importance. Bales goal was in a final. It's not like bale scored a bicycle in just another match.
Maybe try figuring out why that is the case instead of being so bitter about everything he does well lol
Uefa short list of best player in CL was released. The award will go to either Cristiano, Salah or Modric.
How It should be: 1 - Salah 2 - Modric 3 - Ronaldo How its gonna be: 1- Ronaldo ... 2 - Modric 3 - Salah
https://www.soccerladuma.co.za/news...017-18-european-footballer-of-the-year/300486 How could someone think that Griezmann was better than Messi last season?
That list is flawed. If you are not a casual football fan, you understand football properly, and dont fall to media bs you can see that Messi was arguably better than those three players. Barcelona might have been knocked out but if you do a proper rating based on pass completion, number of dribbles, through passes, and general involvement one can see he was still better than everyone. The problem is that Barcelona is currently weak, yes I understand they won La Liga and CDR but for the purpose of this argument they are weak, and haven't really been that lucky in the CL for the 4th time in 5 years.
Excellent post mate, you certainly rate Messi higher than I do, nonetheless I strongly agree with the essence of your argument. Moreover, I must make the following observation: France 1998 with some guys whose name I cannot remember as the main target man - and having scored an impressive ZERO goals in the whole of the KO stage - won their very first World Cup... And France 2018 with Giroud as their main target man - and having scored an impressive ZERO goals in the whole of the KO stage - won their second World Cup. What did France win with Thierry Henry as their main target man?? Maybe Euro 2000, and I said maybe because France's main target man was arguably the so-called 'midfielder' Zinedine Zidane more than it was Thierry Henry. And of course, Portugal won the Euro 2016 Final without their main target man. I mean... Honestly, how much evidence do CR7 fans need to come to terms with the fact that scoring goals - only scoring goals - is overrated as fuk?? Yeah scoring goals is so important that Luka Modric - a freaking midfielder, and a classic midfielder at that - was widely regarded as the player of the tournament. And if that's not enough evidence, France literally won the whole thing with Giroud having scored ZERO GOALS as France's main target man. Cannavaro, Pirlo, Zidane, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Robben, Modric, Hazard, Mbappe… Those are literally the names of the best players of the World Cup ever since 2006, and not one of those names was a pure goal scorer non-dribbler non-scintillating similar to the so-called GOAT Cristiano Ronaldo (who only became GOAT material at 32 years of age, mind you). For the most part, I consider the World Cup to be an overrated measure for talent, in fact I consider it an overrated metric overall, but something that I must admire about it, is how great it is at making the Cristiano Ronaldos and the David Beckhams of the world - the statistical products of footballing propaganda - to shame. Scoring a gazillion tap in goals (like Ronaldo) and scoring a gazillion tap in assists (like Beckham) does not actually work when your national side - unlike your club - is not vastly superior to another 15 national sides. The World Cup demonstrates that fact arguably far more efficiently than any other cup tournament.
Hahahaha... How it should be: 1 - Marcelo 2 - Salah 3 - Dzeko How its gonna be: 1 - Ronaldo's bicycle kick ….. 2 - Ronaldo's hat-trick against the disastrous Ramos-Pique defensive pairing that only ever looked good at Euro 2012 (when the Xavi-Iniesta midfield could and did carry them), but that has looked quite bad at WC 2014, Euro 2016, and again at WC 0218. 3 - Ronaldo's winning mentality 4 - Ronaldo was actually underrated - and in fact was arguably Real Madrid's best player - when he didn't scored any goals in the Semi Finals and again in the Final. 5 - Modric was good at the World Cup, so automatically his Champions League form gets inflated 6 - Salah
But but… what happened to the king of unexpected goals - certainly not tap ins primarily created by his freakish athletic ability - Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Barcelona 2011, vs. Bayern Munich 2012, vs. Borussia Dortmund 2013, vs. Atletico Madrid 2014, vs. Juventus 2015, vs. Atletico Madrid 2016, vs. Bayern Munich 2018, vs. Liverpool 2018?? I would expect the master of 'Unexpected Goals' to demonstrate that fact when the going got tough, but instead, he routinely morphed into the player that could only look on in despair as Uruguay's Cavani scored the unexpected goals when the going got tough - tough shit how Ronaldo's statistics are never a factor in the World Cup is it? Total coincidence I'm sure.
Messi = GOAT Cristiano Ronaldo = Propaganda But but... Cristiano at his peak was far away from Messi... 2009-2010 7,26 Messi (Barcelona) 7,21 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 6,91 Borja Valero (Mallorca) 6,81 Felipe Luis (Deportivo), Zokora (Sevilla) 6,79 Javi Martínez (Athletic Bilbao) https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2013/02/memory-lane-la-liga-200910.html 2010-2011 7,33 Messi (Barcelona) 7,24 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 6,97 Rossi (Vil), Iniesta (Barcelona) 6,91 Borja Valero (Villarreal) 6,89 Cazorla (Villarreal) https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-of-la-liga-201011.html 2011-2012 7,72 Messi (Barcelona) 7,50 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 7,17 Iniesta (Barcelona) 7,10 Alexis (Barcelona) 7,00 Jesús Navas (Sevilla) https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2012/07/average-ratings-la-liga-201112.html 2012-2013 7,00 Messi (Barcelona) 6,84 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 6,80 Iniesta (Barcelona) 6,62 Diego Costa (Atlético) 6,56 Canales (Valencia) 6,54 Tello (Barcelona) https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2013/10/average-ratings-la-liga-201213.html 2013-2014 Cristiano Ronaldo 6,79 (may https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2014/05/average-ratings-atletico-real-madrid.html) Messi 6,68 (february https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2014/02/average-ratings-real-madrid-barcelona.html) 2010-2011 OK that Messi - CL and La Liga winner - was the best player but just remember: 2011-2012 I would say that Cristiano Ronaldo could be very well elect as the best player in the world, since he was the two best players in the world and as no one won the Champions League, the La Liga winner should be considered the best in the world. But people here act like he was and is a Beckham type of player that I can't understand, some are so biased that hurts.
Ronaldo received UEFA's goal of the season award. Bale's overhead kick wasn't even nominated. How does that sounds?
I've seen Salahs performances this season. At least the 3 games they've played and I have not been impressed. He has 2 goals in 3 games but his performances overall have been very underwhelming. I see him taking a path similar to CR7 in which he is so consumed with scoring that he refuses to involve himself in the game. For this reason, given that CR7 will probably win this years award if Messi does not win it (WPOY), then I think Neymar, possibly Mbappe will be the next winner of the award (a change from Salah, my previous choice). Those 2 players still do a lot of things in play besides waiting for scoring opportunities. I also think Dembele is showing serious signs of improvement. He is a player to watch out for. In all honesty, in terms of overall play I've been more impressed with Ronaldo at Juventus than Salah this season, at least so far. For me, in terms of overall play, I still don't put anybody in Messi's class, even at the age of 31. His overall play is unreal.
That's the crazy thing ... Salah just keeps scoring whilst Mane is the more effective , dynamic player and Firmino is also a brilliant forward who plays well more or kiss every single game .. so underrated .
He's my dream signing to add the missing piece of our jigsaw .. He links the play /players up as well as Busqs but simply does it further up field .