Ronaldo v Ronaldo: who was the better Ronaldo?

Ronaldo v Ronaldo: who was better?

  • Brazilian Ronaldo

    Votes: 370 54.7%
  • Portuguese Ronaldo

    Votes: 308 45.5%

  • Total voters
    677
Haha, aye the two goals against Hungary in the final Group match when Portugal were bloody awful which meant they went through and ended up winning the Euros were sod all!
aye that's great, no as good as scoring a double in a world cup final though eh
 
Just voted on what I felt when watching either of them. Ronaldo was something no-one had really seen before I believe, he was built like a British style centre forward, quicker than everyone else at that moment & could finish from anywhere.

Cristiano Ronaldo's stats are ridiculous, whether a team played for him or not. He was a skinny sand dancing winger in 2003, from 2006 with Utd he became a complete forward. He didn't really score at his current rate 'til about 2007/08. But goals scored & trophies won can't be the deciding factor for me, or we'd be saying Gerd Muller was in the top 10 of all time.

Where would we have Cruyff, M Laudrup, Platini, Zico, Zidane, Baggio in a top 5 or 10 of all time. Who's goal scoring stats are no where near that of either Ronald's or Messi.

Well put.

This is partly my problem with Cristiano Ronaldo being considered the best player of all time. I’ll be honest, I don’t think he’s anywhere near it. I genuinely wouldn’t put him in the top ten, which I know will send a few on here apoplectic with incredulity, but I think there has to be much more to that accolade than goalscoring prowess and winners medals alone, otherwise as you say Gerd Müller, Romario and one or two others would be up there too.

Or to put it another way, Kris Boyd has way more goals and winners medals than Alfredo Morelos, but who’s the more complete footballer?
 
I doubt he thinks anyone who never played a minute at a World Cup should get a winners medal but you never know.
don't know about that, but he does know someone did not deserve a champions league winners medal in the man u team though
 
Not even close for me Portugal ronaldo all day long the most complete all round player to ever grace the game literally nothing he can’t do would even fancy him to be good between the sticks
 
Ye would think we were comparing Filip Sebo with R9 with some of these comments. If you think R9 is the best then fine, but cant just right CR off as some no mark. Without doubt one of the best players ever regardless.
 
Big Ronnie for me , he was awesomely brilliant , not just absolutely brilliant like cr7

CR7 is some player tho almost 20 years playing top level football , defo one of the top ten players of all time but big Ron for me is the king
 
People who keep saying R9 in his prime. What would you pick as being the prime years of CR7? The guy has been the model of consistency and an absolute machine since 2006/2007.

O Fenemeno was phenomenal in 1997, and again maybe between 2002-04, but if there was one guy wanted to pick to play in your team for 15 years I think it's probably the guy who has scored over 700 goals between club and country since 2006
 
don't know about that, but he does know someone did not deserve a champions league winners medal in the man u team though

The question was do you think Keane played a part in Man U winning the CL in 99? Fair play if you think no.
 
I absolutely love watching footage of either of them play.

Brazilian Ronaldo was graceful, powerful, smart and exciting. The nickname of Phenomenon was well deserved.

Portuguese Ronaldo has (along with Messi) lifted the bar of what consistency as a footballer means though.
His dedication to his career, his body & his performance is like nothing we have ever seen before. He will be capable of playing at the top level into his 40s and I shake my head at people who only ever want to take a swipe at him for being a poser.
The guy is one of the most effective & consistent footballers we have ever seen.

The longevity of the current day Ronaldo gives him the nod on this poll for me.
Brazilian Ronaldo exploded on to the football world in the late 90s and unfortunatey was a spent force within a decade.
Not necessarily his responsibility when you consider injury and some of the pressures out on him that impacted on his mental and physical health.
The Portuguese one has spent 15 years building from Sporting to Man Utd, to Madrid and now Juventus and has improved as a player and maintained a level of goals and performance over that period.
He should be the example and the inspiration to any kid who plays football.
 
People can waffle on about stats as much as they like, but actually watching the Real Ronaldo in full flow was a thing of beauty. Same with Ronaldinho.
And it's the same with Messi too.

It seems to be a modern thing of reducing a footballers career to stats and numbers. A lot of Cristiano fan boys are guilty of this. The guy is a freak of nature in a physical sense, and is obviously an incredible footballer too, but if someone is going to sit and tell me he was more naturally gifted than Ronaldo, or Messi for that matter, then I'm not going to take them seriously.
 
And it's the same with Messi too.

It seems to be a modern thing of reducing a footballers career to stats and numbers. A lot of Cristiano fan boys are guilty of this. The guy is a freak of nature in a physical sense, and is obviously an incredible footballer too, but if someone is going to sit and tell me he was more naturally gifted than Ronaldo, or Messi for that matter, then I'm not going to take them seriously.

Lots of angles to the argument, obviously if you put Maradona, Ronaldinho and Brazil Ronaldo up against Portugal Ronaldo as role models to have a long career there is only one winner. If you sat and watched a career story of all 4 for an hour I think Portugal Ronaldo excitement on the pitch wise would be the least entertaining.
 
yer cause the teams that cr7 played for don't ever splash the dough and buy the best palyers around to play with him??? ignore skill, speed, flair and general footballing dynamism, then yer cr7 is the better player

Surely the teams that spend money on those players buy the best players and keep them the longest?

Who did Brazilian Ronaldo play for at club level again?

what you are saying is that you preferred watching him, I think. if you are measuring the impact of each on football matches over a career, which is surely the measure of a player, Cristiano is simply miles ahead.
 
Question is who was the better player and since peak Ronaldo (before the knee injuries) was far better and more capable of winning matches on his own than CR7, the answer would be Ronaldo.

CR7 is a far better professional and had a better career in terms of honours and longevity but the question wasn’t asking about success. Bears 30+ will probably remember Ronaldo at Barca and Inter and give him the vote, teenage lassies will vote for CR7.

P.S - regarding the international debate, R9 actually won his side their big trophy on the park, he didn’t sit on the sidelines and spectate, nor did he have the luxury of stat padding against minnows Lithuania, the Faroes, Luxembourg, Andorra, Armenia and Estonia.
 
And it's the same with Messi too.

It seems to be a modern thing of reducing a footballers career to stats and numbers. A lot of Cristiano fan boys are guilty of this. The guy is a freak of nature in a physical sense, and is obviously an incredible footballer too, but if someone is going to sit and tell me he was more naturally gifted than Ronaldo, or Messi for that matter, then I'm not going to take them seriously.

There’s a lot of boys on here who have been Americanised big time. It’s the same when they discuss our players, they don’t make their minds up based on watching them on the pitch they just read numbers and make their minds up based on that and daft graphs they find on twitter. Same ones that probably told you Kent was mediocre in his loan spell here because his assist numbers were low.
 
Question is who was the better player and since peak Ronaldo (before the knee injuries) was far better and more capable of winning matches on his own than CR7, the answer would be Ronaldo.

CR7 is a far better professional and had a better career in terms of honours and longevity but the question wasn’t asking about success. Bears 30+ will probably remember Ronaldo at Barca and Inter and give him the vote, teenage lassies will vote for CR7.

P.S - regarding the international debate, R9 actually won his side their big trophy on the park, he didn’t sit on the sidelines and spectate, nor did he have the luxury of stat padding against minnows Lithuania, the Faroes, Luxembourg, Andorra, Armenia and Estonia.

R9s first international hat trick was against Lithuania and never scored one in a major comp. R7 got one in a World Cup match v Spain in 2018, wasn’t a bad one either, none have been in friendlies.
 
R9s first international hat trick was against Lithuania and never scored one in a major comp. R7 got one in a World Cup match v Spain in 2018, wasn’t a bad one either, none have been in friendlies.

As I remember it De Gea threw one in his own goal and another was a pen, was also a crumbling Spanish side who had an embarrassing early exit. No ones interested in solitary hattricks anyway. I’m just saying those who are talking about overall scoring tallies at international level would do well to remember Ronaldo had to go through the toughest qualifiers in the world and thus didn’t have a record that was inflated by battering these particular minnows. There aren’t many great teams on there, no Germany, no Holland, no France, no Brazil, no Italy, not even an England.

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Look at how many teams R9 played for , his record of games to goals, the amount of leagues he played , the top level teams he was at then add in his international record as well, how anyone could dismiss him is ridiculous !
He is my favourite ever by a long chalk .
You could be talking about either of them there.

R9 wins in a fight.
CR7 wins in a 'pose off'.
 
As I remember it De Gea threw one in his own goal and another was a pen, was also a crumbling Spanish side who had an embarrassing early exit. No ones interested in solitary hattricks anyway. I’m just saying those who are talking about overall scoring tallies at international level would do well to remember Ronaldo had to go through the toughest qualifiers in the world and thus didn’t have a record that was inflated by battering these particular minnows.

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Could go on all day about it and dig stuff out. Wasn’t a bad free kick for the 3rd one v Spain, quite memorable I would say but folk will always find a negative in some things. When you look through Brazil Ronaldos goals against who it ain’t that sparkling either - even at 2002 only Germany you would describe as a major force.
 
Could go on all day about it and dig stuff out. Wasn’t a bad free kick for the 3rd one v Spain, quite memorable I would say but folk will always find a negative in some things. When you look through Brazil Ronaldos goals against who it ain’t that sparkling either - even at 2002 only Germany you would describe as a major force.

You might as well have just said he scored a good free kick against a declining Spanish side once. Im not saying R9 didn’t score against weak sides by the way (naturally most players will get most of their goals against weaker sides), just that his tally isn’t as heavily inflated as CR7’s and he didn’t get to play qualifiers with such an abundance of weak sides. CR7’s record only really contains one of the giants of international football, his fans generally hate when you break down the stats though and don’t merely take them at face value.

And you’re right about 2002, Ronaldo only really scored a brace against one powerhouse side in the final of the competition, pretty poor stuff really!
 
The question was do you think Keane played a part in Man U winning the CL in 99? Fair play if you think no.
of cause he did, but he doesn't think so, all you've said so far has not proved cr7 is a better footballer than r9 by the way cause he ain't
 
You might as well have just said he scored a good free kick against a declining Spanish side once. Im not saying R9 didn’t score against weak sides by the way (naturally most players will get most of their goals against weaker sides), just that his tally isn’t as heavily inflated as CR7’s and he didn’t get to play qualifiers with such an abundance of weak sides. CR7’s record only really contains one of the giants of international football, his fans generally hate when you break down the stats though and don’t merely take them at face value.

And you’re right about 2002, Ronaldo only really scored a brace against one powerhouse side in the final of the competition, pretty poor stuff really!

Scored plenty in friendlies, could argue all day about it.

Did you think Germany were a powerhouse at that competition? I didn’t, one of the better teams but thought they were poor - can remember Brazil being 4/6 when it came to the last 4. It was a pretty poor competition really, not taking anything away from Ronaldo there.
 
Shite question imo. Cristiano runs away with it in terms of individual accolades, european cups and career longevity. R9 has 2 world cups and starred for one of the greatest Brazilian sides of all time. Its 2 totally different eras though so you cant really compare.

The question should be which 1 would you pay to watch in their prime? R9 is the only answer. The guy was a genius. An absolute phenomenon. The type of player any true football fan would pay to watch just 1 more time.
 
of cause he did, but he doesn't think so, all you've said so far has not proved cr7 is a better footballer than r9 by the way cause he ain't

Probably because I’m not trying to prove that. It’s been a laugh anyway. You’ve clearly stated that Ronaldos contribution to winning USA 94 (Where he never played a minute all competition) was on a par with Ronaldo at France 2016 where his nation won it, scored the goals to keep them in the Competition In the Groups, played a massive part in the goal to put them through in the second round and then scored the first in the semi!
 
In 20 years time the only one that will be remembered will be the Portuguese version. The fat version was immense but injuries ruined him and he never achieved anywhere near what the thin one has.
 
That was because he had suffered his third horrific knee injury whilst at Milan.
That's because Ronaldo's knees blew up. The Ronaldo of Barca and his first year at Inter is levels above Cristiano at his peak. For me it isn't even up for debate. A lot of the people voting won't have seen him play.
I understand injuries played a role but you can’t use that against CR for not being injured either. The sad reality is that his injuries and CR’s ridiculous consistent longevity is probably the main reason you have to put CR ahead. The guy scored 61 goals in a season.
 
And it's the same with Messi too.

It seems to be a modern thing of reducing a footballers career to stats and numbers. A lot of Cristiano fan boys are guilty of this. The guy is a freak of nature in a physical sense, and is obviously an incredible footballer too, but if someone is going to sit and tell me he was more naturally gifted than Ronaldo, or Messi for that matter, then I'm not going to take them seriously.

Totally agree and it’s a big part of why I put the poll up.

There seems to have been, since Cristiano Ronaldo really began to hit the heights especially, a tendency to fixate on stats as determining a player’s greatness.

And yet even on this thread you can see how selective that is where the Portuguese is championed by virtue of having won more ballon d’ors and CL medals, completely ignoring the Brazilian’s World Cup win where he was the top scorer and player of the tournament. It also doesn’t really acknowledge the extent injuries robbed him, and indeed us, of a much longer peak period where he could have won more.
 
Question is who was the better player and since peak Ronaldo (before the knee injuries) was far better and more capable of winning matches on his own than CR7, the answer would be Ronaldo.

CR7 is a far better professional and had a better career in terms of honours and longevity but the question wasn’t asking about success. Bears 30+ will probably remember Ronaldo at Barca and Inter and give him the vote, teenage lassies will vote for CR7.

P.S - regarding the international debate, R9 actually won his side their big trophy on the park, he didn’t sit on the sidelines and spectate, nor did he have the luxury of stat padding against minnows Lithuania, the Faroes, Luxembourg, Andorra, Armenia and Estonia.
Strangely I don’t remember R9 taking penalties to boost his tally (genuinely, I’m not saying it’s accurate though). Numbers can only paint a rough image though because you need to apply context, I posted a twitter thread on here yesterday of R9.

Don’t see how anyone could read this and argue R9 wasn’t a better player at peak.


R9 tore 90s Italy a part and scored 8 goals in a WC. These days more goals are scored, yes it’s down to Messi and CR being monsters but it’s actually due to tactical naivety and a new emphasis on attack.

As you know I’m an avid Messi fan boy, I would argue peak R9 was better than him.
 
Probably because I’m not trying to prove that. It’s been a laugh anyway. You’ve clearly stated that Ronaldos contribution to winning USA 94 (Where he never played a minute all competition) was on a par with Ronaldo at France 2016 where his nation won it, scored the goals to keep them in the Competition In the Groups, played a massive part in the goal to put them through in the second round and then scored the first in the semi!
don't lie I said he won 2 winners medals , aye so ronaldo had 1 good game in the euros whoopee dooo
 
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