Messi or Ronaldo: The Final Verdict is here - Last Volume

The stats might have changed a bit since last 2 weeks when I wrote part 1 of Messi or Ronaldo. But that won’t help you either to convincingly award one player as the best. Two weeks back, we focused on these stats (updated now until 23 May 2015):

Messi			Ronaldo
Appearance	Goals		Goals	Appearance
577	455	All time career – club and country	488	742
480	410	All time – club	436	623
315	286	League	312	421
98	77	Europe	78	121

Messi, I guess edges out Ronaldo above with regards to goals per games ratio. The Champions league performance is staggering. And he doesn’t take as many penalties as Ronaldo does. To be fair to Ronaldo, he has scored at a much faster rate at Real Madrid.

I extracted some stats with respect to their Honours too (Since 2003-2004):

Messi		Ronaldo
7	League Titles – Spanish or English	4
3	UEFA Champions League	2
4	Ballon d’Or Award	3

Messi edges out Ronaldo here too.

No, I am not taking personal sides here. Yes, I would pick Messi in my side, but it won’t be an easy choice. I would suggest that Messi’s success has come partly because of his genius and partly because of his team Barcelona. Sir Alex once suggested that Ronaldo may be able to fit easily in any team, whereas Messi is made for Barcelona. How Messi performs in another team can only be seen when and if it happens, but the playing style of Barcelona and Service of the likes of Xavi and Iniesta definitely helped Messi in achieving what he did.

It’s another thing though: how Messi has gelled with Suarez and Neymar and in fact has helped them grow, has again highlighted his team player ranks, whereas Ronaldo I feel has never been able to completely stop his critics for his individual ambitions.

Again, we are just lucky to be present in the time when both these players are at their best and entertain us like no other. And we can choose to just sit back, relax and let both of them edge out the other week in week out.

Messi or Ronaldo: The Final and The Ultimate Verdict is here

Not really! Just kidding.

Whatever it is, it can only be an opinion. That’s the whole point, it’s all about opinions. Will you have Messi in your all-time greatest team or Ronaldo, and why? Throw that question to a crowd and you will divide them. I am basically saying a cliché. We have never got a convincing answer and why do we need a convincing answer?

Get me a Real Madrid fan who will choose Messi over a Ronaldo. Get me a Barca fan who chooses Ronaldo, any day. And for a neutral, it’s about who you want in the pitch. Do you love a dashing hunk, running with the ball like a tiger, muscling defenders away, at times with his trickery too, and other times bending the ball like only he can. You love what he does off the pitch too J.

Or you would rather see a slightly more serious, small figure, a born genius, taking the ball away from defenders ( at times 4 or 5 of them) before they even realize it and looping the ball over the keeper. It’s just who you want to see on the field.

You might argue that let the performance, the records say it. Here you go:

All time Stats updated on 9^th May

Messi			Ronaldo
Appearance	Goals		Goals	Appearance
574	452	All time career – club and country	481	739
477	407	All time – club	429	620
313	283	League	306	419
97	77	Europe	77	120

Now what do you say? Even this will lead to different opinions.

We are just lucky to be present in the time when both these players are at their best and entertain us like no other. 

There would be one personal argument though (another opinion); who makes a team better? A team is not about Ronaldo or Messi alone. It’s about how these 2 players take their team and their team mates to new heights. A lot of questions were raised when Barcelona decided to play Messi, Neymar and Suarez together, but to every one’s surprise and pleasure, they have complimented each other amazingly.

How about the situation at Real Madrid at this moment? How is the BBC of Real Madrid – Bale, Benzema and Christiano gelling? Just an opinion and I shall continue next week.