That’s a great question Who’s a better artist Michelangelo or Di Vinci, what’s a better car a Ferrari or a Porsche... This may sound controversial but in my personal opinion besides not being gifted with speed/athleticism Roberto baggio could do everything R9 could do and things he couldn’t do For one Roberto baggio was a set piece specialist R9 wasn’t I saw Roberto baggio dribble past 1-4 players and routinely score solo goals in Serie A/international level despite not being that much faster then prime Andrés iniesta. For all the hype R9 never dribbled past more than 2 players to score solo goals despite having the pace of a cheetah Even though I think Roberto baggio is actually overrated as a playmaker that is only relative to players like laudrup,Hagi,savecivic And other elite playmakers from the 90s Compared to R9 he is a better passer Period According to an eye witness account of a journalist Gianni Brera who actually saw both Giuseppe meazza and Roberto Baggio live he thought baggio was his equal. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.an...ino_ca9aa420-022f-4fc8-bb74-b3770f9d573b.html If true baggio is a better player than R9 by default,if it is a slightly exaggerated claim then prime baggio was at least as good as Prime R9 Note that I made a distinction between prime and post prime level. In the 2nd part of their careers so we’re taking about post 1994 baggio and post 1999 R9 I will side with the Brazilian for being a more impactful player Baggio was good in Brescia particularly in 97/98 he scored a lot (aided with quite a few penalties it must be said) But the consistency that R9 showed in his first 2 seasons for Real Madrid imo is a level above anything baggio did at club level post 1994 I almost forgot to mention R9 was obviously a better finisher in front of goal (I never mentioned it because he is a natural number 9 and if he wasn’t a better finisher than baggio this thread couldn’t even exist) I think at their very best against top teams in a league format baggio is unquestionably a better player(check what he did to teams like Milan,inter and even maradonas napoli) Over the course of a season R9 was probably a more useful player to have in your team but not by much at all It is worth mentioning Baggio played in the ultra defensive era of serie A while R9 played in a Serie A that was living off reputation as a great defensive league but in actuality wasn’t even as defensive as the premier league of CR7 07-09 for example In 1990/91 and 1991/92 Serie A averaged below 2.30 goals per match In these two seasons baggio recorded 2 of his 3 highest scoring seasons from open play(20+ goals which for a player who wasn’t an out and out striker was VERY good) In 1997/98 Serie A averaged 2.73 goals per match and 2.78 goal per match in 1998/99 these two seasons cover R9s best period in Italy It is true that baggios highest scoring League season came in the highest scoring campaign of the entire 90s 92/93 but previous to this baggio played in a ultra defensive league in comparable circumstances to the ones faced by maradona and Michel Platini So in actuality pre 1993 Serie A was a very bad place for strikers hoping to score a lot which is why a striker like Marco Van Basten deserves a lot of credit for posting the figures he did for Milan Post 1993 Serie A was a more open league with an influx of attacking talent from all over the world For it’s time it probably had the greatest balance of attacking/defensive football in Europe Pre 1993 Serie A was not end to end football, literally a striker would get 2-3 chances to score MAX( that is if you are a striker mostly reliant on service) If you weren’t totally reliant on service then obviously you can create more opportunities for yourself via dribbling/playmaking but don’t think it was easy to be facing prime Cabrini,prime baresi,a young maldini,bergomi and even slightly before this defenders like Scirea or gentille These guys take no prisoners so if you think R9 would’ve bamboozled them with his footwork and speed Maybe the first few times but be rest assured his near career ending injury would’ve of been fast tracked Yesteryears defenders had a mentality whereby being humiliated by a forward is not an option By hook or by crook they will leave their mark on you ( via tackling or hacking your legs) Today’s defenders will lay down like pussies if they come up against mostly overhyped attackers,which is why a team like Manchester City will annihilate teams in the bottom half of the premier league table but get exposed in Europe year after year. Teams like Huddersfield,Burnley,Rayo vallecano ,Dijon,Mainz 05 etc have a defeatist mentality when they face the big boys of their respective leagues . There are simply no upsets. that is just the sad reality of the situation