The Best Footballer Ever

[Guest]

So a very new topic that has never been discussed before.

Who is the best ever?

In my opinion Ronaldo is the best ever. But I think messi at his best was better but not as consistent. For the fact that they were to keep themselves at the top for so long is what makes them the 2 best ever. Although at the same time Maradona won a world cup and a seria a virtually by himself.

What do you think?

 

[Eco]

I'm shocked this has never been discussed before. 

 

[Cicero]

Messi. 

Although Ronaldo should be ranked a lot higher than he should be with some people. 

[Guest]

Just now, Cicero said:

Messi. 

Although Ronaldo should be ranked a lot higher than he should be with some people. 

Interesting. I would actually love to say  messi is better but I cant find a reason to. Why do you think he is?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Eco said:

I'm shocked this has never been discussed before. 

 

Ha ha I got to admit I was a bit offended when you laughed at my post until I realised why 

[Eco]

To answer the question though. The best I ever saw at one moment was Ronaldinho. 

I think Ronaldo and Messi are obviously both brilliant, but if I was starting a team tomorrow and could have either at the age of 21, I'd choose Ronaldo. The man just wins. Yeah, Messi finally won something with Argentina, but that was a bit hollow IMO. 

Messi is amazing to watch, no doubt, but something about CR just seems to inspire his teammates and leads them to victory, so for me, he just brings something very different to the table that Messi lacked. 

[Stan]

Jamie Vardy.

Can't think of any other player that rustles every single opposition fan with whatever he does. And that's all that football is about these days. 

There is no player like him. 

[Eco]

Just now, Stan said:

Jamie Vardy.

Can't think of any other player that rustles every single opposition fan with whatever he does. And that's all that football is about these days. 

There is no player like him. 

If that was the bar, I'd say Ibrahimovic wins hands down. 

[Azeem]

There is no such thing as a greatest of all-time in a team sport. Only best at a specific role

[Eco]

Just now, Khan of TF365 said:

There is no such thing as a greatest of all-time in a team sport. Only best at a specific role

Usually I'd agree, but I think the only person that defies this is Wayne Gretzky. What he did on skates has never, and will never be done again. Truly shocking how much better he was than anybody then, and now. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Khan of TF365 said:

There is no such thing as a greatest of all-time in a team sport. Only best at a specific role

I kind of agree. It's also  very hard because of advances in sports science and that. I mean players in pele,s time ran half the distance. I think a championship side would run circles around a team from that time. But I suppose you can make arguments for certain players based on what was available at the time 

[Azeem]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

Usually I'd agree, but I think the only person that defies this is Wayne Gretzky. What he did on skates has never, and will never be done again. Truly shocking how much better he was than anybody then, and now. 

Yeah in it can very depending on team sports. Some team sports like Cricket, Basketball or maybe even Ice hockey can be one man shows 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Stan said:

Jamie Vardy.

Can't think of any other player that rustles every single opposition fan with whatever he does. And that's all that football is about these days. 

There is no player like him. 

When  you look at vardy's eyes they are still wide open  from his cocaine days. I do wonder how good he could have been if he had matured faster 

[Stan]

9 minutes ago, Eco said:

If that was the bar, I'd say Ibrahimovic wins hands down. 

Ibra not even close to being fit to tie Vardy's laces. 

[Rucksackfranzose]

Honestly, this question can't be answered correctly. To give you an impression what I'm talking about: how will you compare a say Messi to a goalkeeper like Lev Yashine, or a sweeper like Beckenbauer. Now someone mentioned Ronaldinho, how does his comparatevely short high time relate to the longelivety of say Stanley Matthews? And that isn't even taking into account that the names of say George Best or Gerd Müller are still in everybodies mind , while noone can say if the likes of Ronaldo and Messi not simply will be forgotten about in 40 years. Now take into account that different times had different styles of play and much more so, different forms of training, in content, as well as form, as well as intensity. Add the development in both medicine and nutrition and the higher grade of protection players enjoy today and the only conclusion you can come too is this question lacks the basic for a response.

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

Ibra not even close to being fit to tie Vardy's laces. 

In terms of rustling opposing fans and teams? Agree to disagree then. 

Guy has a statue removed in Malmo because it was vandalized so much. He's played for both Inter and AC Milan, spoke about how easy the MLS was when he was with the Galaxy, 

He's offended women's football, insulting everyone, spoken down to reporters, and has called himself a god. 

[Cicero]

22 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

Interesting. I would actually love to say  messi is better but I cant find a reason to. Why do you think he is?

Simply analyse them as players. 

Ronaldo will go down as one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. 

Messi will go down as one of the greatest goal scorers of all time, one of the greatest dribblers of all time, one of the greatest passers of all time, one of the greatest playmakers of all time, and one of the greatest free kick takers of all time.

On a footballing perspective Messi eclipsed Ronaldo over a decade ago. On an influence perspective is a much more fitting debate. The leadership argument is something I disagree with completely. Screaming off the top of your lungs the entire 90 minutes isn't the only way to be a leader. Ronaldo is clearly a more expressive/vocal leader, whereas Messi  leads by example. The "Ronaldo inspires his team more" is a bit fictitious as well. When you have Rodrigo De Paul in an interview saying he and the rest of the team would surrender everything to win the Copa America for Messi, that just goes to show the influence Messi has on his teammates. 

 

[Eco]

9 minutes ago, Cicero said:

On a footballing perspective Messi eclipsed Ronaldo over a decade ago. On an influence perspective is a much more fitting debate. The leadership argument is something I disagree with completely. Screaming off the top of your lungs the entire 90 minutes isn't the only way to be a leader. Ronaldo is clearly a more expressive/vocal leader, whereas Messi  leads by example. The "Ronaldo inspires his team more" is a bit fictitious as well. When you have Rodrigo De Paul in an interview saying he and the rest of the team would surrender everything to win the Copa America for Messi, that just goes to show the influence Messi has on his teammates. 

 

But Messi's influence doesn't relate to leadership. It's just as likely that Messi got the immense respect from his teammates because they know how great and hard he works, and they are tired to thinking that them (the Argentine NT) is the only major hole in resume of Messi. 

I agree there are different types of leaders, and maybe it's unfair to say Messi isn't a leader, but instead we might should just point out that Ronaldo has shown time and time again his impressive leadership abilities, without every mentioned Messi's leadership. 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Simply analyse them as players. 

Ronaldo will go down as one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. 

Messi will go down as one of the greatest goal scorers of all time, one of the greatest dribblers of all time, one of the greatest passers of all time, one of the greatest playmakers of all time, and one of the greatest free kick takers of all time.

On a footballing perspective Messi eclipsed Ronaldo over a decade ago. On an influence perspective is a much more fitting debate. The leadership argument is something I disagree with completely. Screaming off the top of your lungs the entire 90 minutes isn't the only way to be a leader. Ronaldo is clearly a more expressive/vocal leader, whereas Messi  leads by example. The "Ronaldo inspires his team more" is a bit fictitious as well. When you have Rodrigo De Paul in an interview saying he and the rest of the team would surrender everything to win the Copa America for Messi, that just goes to show the influence Messi has on his teammates. 

 

Really good points. I really agree with you with the leadership point. I work as a chef and there is this stereotype that you need to be screaming all the time to get results where as in reality the best leaders are calm so 100 % agree with you. The thing is though is that some people may argue that Ronaldo has more impact on a game so teams would rather have him. Although from what you have said messi is a better all round player Ronaldo can have more influence in a tournament 

[Eco]

And I'll say, but biggest and likely only thing against Messi, is all the reports and rumors about how he's handled the Argentine NT selection. Vetoing some players because he doesn't like them, despite the fact that they'd only improve the team. 

 

[Stan]

22 minutes ago, Eco said:

In terms of rustling opposing fans and teams? Agree to disagree then. 

Guy has a statue removed in Malmo because it was vandalized so much. He's played for both Inter and AC Milan, spoke about how easy the MLS was when he was with the Galaxy, 

He's offended women's football, insulting everyone, spoken down to reporters, and has called himself a god. 

Vardy has set the bar for decades with his antics. I'll give Ibra credit for his talent and audacity to pull off the spectacular but some of Vardy's celebrations are off the charts. 

[Coma+]

I'm a fan of the bloke in my avatar.  But in all honesty I'd make a case for the original Ronaldo, not the current one.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Messi - and I disagree about the consistency claim tbh. It's hard to find someone who's more consistently good as Messi. Consistently among the top: scorers, assisters, dribblers, passers. He's an absolutely incredible player.

Then I'd probably go with Maradona because he carried Argentina to a world cup and he broke the north-of-Rome dominance in the Serie A when that was the top league in the world.

[Cicero]

24 minutes ago, Eco said:

But Messi's influence doesn't relate to leadership. It's just as likely that Messi got the immense respect from his teammates because they know how great and hard he works, and they are tired to thinking that them (the Argentine NT) is the only major hole in resume of Messi. 

That is literally the definition of Leading By Example. 

21 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

Really good points. I really agree with you with the leadership point. I work as a chef and there is this stereotype that you need to be screaming all the time to get results where as in reality the best leaders are calm so 100 % agree with you. The thing is though is that some people may argue that Ronaldo has more impact on a game so teams would rather have him. Although from what you have said messi is a better all round player Ronaldo can have more influence in a tournament 

That would be true if Messi didn't have the most player of the tournament awards in the history of football. 

 WC 2014, Copa America 2015, Copa America 2021.

21 minutes ago, Eco said:

And I'll say, but biggest and likely only thing against Messi, is all the reports and rumors about how he's handled the Argentine NT selection. Vetoing some players because he doesn't like them, despite the fact that they'd only improve the team. 

Biggest myth in football.

If this were true Papu Gomez would have far more than 7 measly caps considering he's been one of the best Argentine players in recent years and is great mates with Messi. 

Wanda Icardi is the main reason why Icardi can't get a sniff in and Dybala doesn't fit in a team with Messi. 

 

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

That is literally the definition of Leading By Example. 

Correct. But again, there is a major difference between being a model employee, and being a model leader. Either one can certainly give you the respect of your peers, but it doesn't mean you enjoy, or want to be a true leader. 

2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

That would be true if Messi didn't have the most player of the tournament awards in the history of football. 

 WC 2014, Copa America 2015, Copa America 2021.

Again, what does Player of The Tournaments have to do with being a leader? Two different things here. 

When Portugal went on to win the Euros, I thought Ronaldo did a great job at simply drawing attention and opening up his teammates. It wasn't his best tournament, and it appeared that he knew as much, so he did what he could for the betterment of the team. 

2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Biggest myth in football.

If this were true Papu Gomez would have far more than 7 measly caps considering he's been one of the best Argentine players in recent years and is great mates with Messi. 

Wanda Icardi is the main reason why Icardi can't get a sniff in and Dybala doesn't fit in a team with Messi. 

I think it's odd to be so certain this is a myth. So many rumors and reports about this, and I do believe that where there is smoke, there is very likely a fire. 

I can't for certain say one way or the other, or if we was adamant about player selection or maybe just gave his opinion and then it blew out of proportion. Who really knows but those involved. My point? It's a bad look and I find it hard with all the reports to think that something wasn't said or didn't happen. I'll also point out that Argentina during Messi's era have been such a major disappointment, and so why would players like Icardi and/or Dybala NOT get a chance when it history is showing that your current player selection isn't winning the big game? 

Just my two cents.