As the start of all of Europe's major leagues approach the hottest topic in world football will once again be debated! Who is better: Ronaldo or Messi?
Ronaldo's pace and ability to run at the opposition is one of his greatest attributes. However, with Lionel Messi his burst of pace in any area of the park and ability to weave through a multitude of defenders is sheer delight and the end result of all of this is some truly stunning goals.
Ronaldo in my opinion scores some truly spectacular goals, though, they are more direct and in most cases he will be at the receiving end of a fantastic pass from a team mate and there is definitely no better poacher in world football as he can get behind defenders and stick the ball in the back of the net before defenders even have time to think. His goals this season for Real Madrid were a large part of their La Liga success.
On the other hand Messi was outstanding for Barcelona last season and became the club's all time leading scorer at the age of 24 along with breaking Gerd Muller's 39 year old record for the most goals scored in a single European season with a total of 73 goals. Remarkably, Ronaldo tends to match Messi's ability to score goals and can also be considered as one of the greatest goalscorers of all time alongside Messi. Messi's work ethic and his low profile social life has endeared him to the public. Ronaldo on the other hand has a more public social life and is always followed by a camera.
Messi's overall ability and goalscoring can not be ignored, though, it must be noted that at Barcelona a lot of his goals come through his partnership with Spain's midfield maestro's Xavi and Iniesta. This can clearly be seen when Messi plays for his national team, Argentina, where he struggles to reproduce the same form and only recently, during a friendly against Brazil where he scored three spectacular goals, has he shown glimpses of the performances that he puts in week in and week out for Barcelona.
Other factors that could go against Messi is the fact that he has only played for one team from age twelve, though, he has won almost everything in world football from La Liga titles and FIFA Club World Cup titles to a gold medal with Argentina at the Olympics as well as breaking every World an European records.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, has played for three different clubs including Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United. Starting his career at Sporting Lisbon then making a move to Manchester United, where he won a total of nine titles (including a memorable Champions League title in 2008) and, under Sir Alex Ferguson, matured into one the worlds best players.
Ronaldo has sometimes had to accept life in the shadow of Lionel Messi, which for someone of Ronaldo's talent, must be extremely frustrating. However, there is no doubting that since Ronaldo's move to Spain, the gap has grown ever smaller between these two great players and now, in terms of goals at least, you could say that the two players are on par with each other, or perhaps, that Ronaldo has even overtaken Messi.
Whatever your stance there is no doubting that Ronaldo and Messi are arguably the two best players in the world and are way ahead of everybody else, and will probably go down in history as two of the greatest players ever!!
What's your opinion???
