During the 100th anniversary of the Portuguese Football Federation in Estoril, Ronaldo was declared the greatest Portuguese footballer ever, picked ahead of the likes of Rui Costa, Luis Figo, and Eusebio. Ronaldo was unavailable to attend due to a Copa del Rey match against Atletico de Madrid, but Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were both present.

http://www.itv.com/sport/football/update/2015-01-15/ronaldo-named-best-portuguese-player-ever/

So when you know CR7 had a mediocre game why celebrating his brace as a world cup final win ? More directly to Lilly who commented that he was the best ever ? Messi last 10 games looks like to the last one, lets put the highlight of both against Atleti in CL games, its the same, one has only his goals to back him, the other is the focal point of the game. And moving to or from PL doesnt make you more accomplished, in fact moving from Spain to England have been proved an easy task so just stop it, players like Alexis, Yaya Toure, Costa delivered their first season and it was hailed as if they step up level in summer vacation, if you think Messi would struggle against Swansea defense while Costa is bagging goals then you know few about the game or overrating the PL level because we saw lately many quick success stories who makes this point completely irrelevant. We are talking about Messi, not Bojan or Alexis, and no team is stupid enough to let him go, to prove a point, he has no point to prove at all, as if Football is only recognized while played in England. The fact Ronaldo trashed PL defenses in the past at a very young age helps him a lot in PL fans mind ( who only give credit when it happens in England ), but it doesnt change the fact that if you ask 95% of Liga defenders about who is the best of the 2, most of them have only one answer... Aside from similar stats, in term of contribution, comparing both is reducing Messi work rate to just scoring goals or assisting, he does clearly more than that.

@Heis With that Reasoning, you can throw all the United legends in the garbage History...
So Paul Scholes and Giggs since they never changed the league or club should be underlooked comparing to owen or Adebayor ? Some players are good enough to be best player of any league they are in, not only Ronaldo has been able to do this, Etoo, Henry, Ibra, Yaya Toure... all played in Barça and in comparison with Messi there is no match, you dont need to put a player in the same team of Messi to see that he is not his caliber...
Many claimed or were seen as having his level, but many are shocked when they come to play with him, Neymar and Suarez could tell you something about it, Suarez cant believe how fast Messi really is, he said that he knew he was fast but not that fast.

Before Messi only phenomeno had this gifted ability to get pass defenders that easy in very limitted space, no other player had this in years and certainly not Cr 7.

CR7 no doubt. like him as a player. cant say complete but i would say he is the best player in Portuguese history. guys. read the title. so why must u guys be comparing Ronaldo with Messi? Messi aint from Portugal. =="

Cr7 had a bad game... I would too If had no Irina to come back to.

@tiki_taka nobody celebrated his brace as a WC win... I celebrated James' beautiful passes more tbh. But anyways, you know you're amazing when you have a mediocre game and still manage to score 2 goals... Tiki, YOU went crazy with Messi's hattrick and started insulting Ronaldo and madrid fans, etc.

Lol i got insulted first, anyway its good to hear this from Madrid fans that he he didnt have a good game, if i didnt share the highlight nothing would be said, this is why Madrid fans give incredible importance to stats because it could turn an average performence into world class because people doesnt watch games, its enough now...

Its not the first time that Ronaldo give this sort of performences and getting rewarded, thats how it is lately...
At the opposite, Messi spent many games playing in midlefield backing Barça weakest links and assisting Neymar, he played better was ranked better in League and CL in any Football rating website and was bashed unfairly mostly by Ronaldo fans.

Ronaldo is turning into a Inzaghi 2.0, with more power and speed, but he is doing these sort of performences for a while and you keep claiming his superiority, i would share both performences more often if it helps you to get back some objectivity.

@RealMadrid17, please avoid to go personal and stick to the football, thanks.

Enjoyneer_RED
*"...first thing first , can you guys elaborate in full details what is the definition of a complete player in your books ? would like to know how is c.ronaldo the most complete player IN FOOTBALL HISTORY ?

"best player in history " gotta agree with tiki 100% here , NO COMMENT
"zidane may be one of the best players but still isnt complete as CR7 " again, NO COMMENT... "*

tiki_taka
"...the ability of bringing the team to its best when they arent performing good in the pitch, its inexplicable but players like Zidane Maradona had this, they made the most decent strikers with them shine as lions..."

Tuanis
"...now... just for the sake of it. There is no adjetive that I can come up with right now to describe the people who say Ronaldo can be the best player in history. Lets start by comparing him to Messi, no need to go further than that..."

^borrowing your words to express my opinion guys.
the best in Portuguese Football history? probably. the best in the whole Football history? no way on earth.

This is a redundant discussion. People have their own point of views and preferences as to who is the "best". There really is no way to judge it after so many great players have gone down in history. I guess a requirement to be considered the best of the world, in my opinion, would be to have won the WC. So that takes out Messi and Ronaldo from this discussion.

Now a days midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers are overlooked due to the common thinking that is "goals are the only thing that matter". While true that they determine the winner and looser, any player can score, and almost always you need your team to help achieve scoring. (unless we are talking about Swansea against Chelsea ;P)

I also agree with what tiki said about greatness being the x-factor that inspires your team to be better even when on paper they are not. Maradona and Zidan are clear examples, and im sure there are many more.

Thus, each one of us will have our own "best player ever" until FIFA decide to make another award ceremony and we will be forced to accept the winner as "FIFA is the law" in these matters.

For being the best Portuguese player in history, Dyna summed it up for you.

Being the greatest player ever? No.
Being one of the greats? Yes.
Being the most compete in history? Yes.

Why?
Back-heels

Bicycle kicks
Rabonnas
Long range
Penalties
Free-kicks (atm, no he needs to polish his freekicks more)
Right footed
Left footed
headers
Skills
Dribbles
amazing runs (one of the fastest players in the world)
High Jumps
Tall/Fit (rarely gets injured)

anything else? oh wait he needs the ability to fly and teleportation

@Enjoyneer, Why create fights? Is it that wrong for us to praise our favourite player? This forum is about Ronaldo, so i see no problem for"CR7 fanboys" to be in it. If a chelsea fan made a forum about insulting rooney or any united player, I bet my life, that united fans as yoursrlf will without a doubt interfere and protect your own players.

EDIT: I agree with raimondo 100% with everything, including that ronaldo and messi need a World cup to be The Best.

@dyn , i wasnt born at the 1960s bro , but were you ? i remeber always you hailing CRUYFF as the best player ever in history , How can you declare cruyff to be the greatest player for you if you've never seen him play but judging only from his stats, videos and quotes from other great legends about him. This post would have turned completely great if you have stepped up and corrected the claims of c. ronaldo being the complete player in history by only giving the name of the TOTAL FOOTBALLER , JOHAN CRUYFF.

as for the messi vs. c.ronaldo debate , this video should do fine

@Dynastian, I am a mod, it's just that my decisions always get overturned,

@Enjoyneer_RED what does it show? Sir Alex answering politely to a question about Messi with exactly Messi sitting beside him? if you mean that this shows Messi is better than Ronaldo, then no it doesnt

@tiki_taka well I dont see why you bring up those two games to make a full conclusion. Read Dynastian98 and RealMadrid17's posts and you will see how it just gets wrong.

^ it shows the man who brought c.ronaldo to the football world, stating that messi is on the level of the greatest of all time , such ass pelle , maradona , cruyff , THE REAL GREATEST OF ALL TIME .

@Enjoyneer

I don't appreciate you bringing in my opinion on Johan Cruyff into a discussion about Ronaldo, but since you insist, I'll explain.

Cruyff and Michels were the ones who invented 'Total Football'. The football you see today is TF. Each and every kind of it. TF is football nowadays. And it has been this way for the last 40 years. And who deserves credit for bringing it to us? Johan Cruyff and his manager Rinus Michels. It was Michels that overlooked the team that had that belief, and it was Cruyff who spread it. Cruyff showed the world how one is not restricted to his position. He showed how a midfielder can also play as a forward (himself playing as a 'false nine' on occasion). He showed how attacking-midfielders and wingers must all be designated with the task of defending. He showed how full-backs can be allowed to come inside and score goals through the middle of the pitch, rather than just shooting or crossing from the wing. It was Cruyff that perfected this playing style, and he led by example. He, and I am not using this word lightly, revolutionized football.

Cruyff philosophy later carried on to his player Josep Guardiola, who used that philosophy to create the Golden Era of Barcelona that we are so familiar with today. As a player, Cruyff was able to control the entire pitch. He was running up and down every possession, and made absurd passes, goals, and showed a fantastic touch. Yes, I have watched him play, albeit not live. I was born much after he retired, but I was blessed with videos of him playing for Ajax, Barcelona, and the Netherlands.

Cruyff changed football forever. Pele redefined 'play-maker', Di Stefano invented the role of the box-to-box midfielder, Hidegkuti showed the world how to play as a 'false nine', Puskas was one of the first high-scoring midfielders, Kocsis was the first goal-scoring winger, etc. But none of them quite refined the entire sport as a whole like Cruyff did. This is why I hold Cruyff to be the most significant player in history.

If we're talking about 'greatest', then my top three would be 1. Pele, 2. Di Stefano, and 3. Messi. I didn't want to say all this crap, but you forced my hand. Enjoy ~

"This post would have turned completely great if you have stepped up and corrected the claims of c. ronaldo being the complete player in history by only giving the name of the TOTAL FOOTBALLER , JOHAN CRUYFF."

Since it appears that you have not read my arguments, I'd like to make one fact clear: it was not I who said that Ronaldo is the greatest-ever. I didn't even say that he is the most complete player ever. Those were the opinions of others. I am inclined to agree that Ronaldo is the most complete forward in history, at least from the players I have seen play so far (and I have seen the likes of Pele, Maradona, Messi, O Fenomeno, Van Basten, Romario, Eusebio, etc.). I do not believe Ronaldo is the greatest-ever player, but I firmly believe that he should be considered in the 'Top 10' bracket. Thank you for reading, and goodnight.

By the way, that video was made in January 2012. That's three years ago, mind you. In those three years, Ronaldo has...

Scored 130+ goals for club and country
Won a Copa del Rey and reached another final
Won the Champions League
Won La Liga
Won a Supercopa, coming second another time
Won the UEFA Super Cup
Won the Club World Cup
Won a Golden Boot
Won two Ballon d'Ors
Taken his team to the semi-finals of the EURO's, eventually winning 3rd place
Become only the 5th player to win 3+ Ballon d'Ors
Become the highest-ever scorer in the EURO history
Become Portugal's highest-ever scorer
Become Real Madrid's 3rd highest-ever scorer
Become the Champions League's second-highest ever scorer
Become the second player to win the Golden Boot three times (after Messi)
Become the first player to score in two different Champions League finals with two different teams
Become formally declared the "Greatest Portuguese Player in History" by his countrymen
Scored the most Champions League goals in a year (12?)
Scored the most Champions League goals in a season (17)
Scored the most Champions League goals in the group stages (9)
Scored in every minute of a football match (first player in recorded history)

... and many more! I'm just too lazy to list them. :)

Dynastian. I agree with everything, but Di Stefano wasn't a midfielder... He was a striker. Puskas was also a forward, he didn't play that ST role, but was more of an "inside forward" how they were called at the time, which would be a CF/CAM role, so I guess you're kind of right. at least thats where he played for Real Madrid. In the 1950's, formations weren't like we see them today. At least for Real Madrid it was sort of a 3-2-5.

---------------Dominguez (1)

marquitos (2) - Santamaria (3) - Zarraga (4)

-------------Ruiz (5) - Santisteban (6)

----------Rial (8) ----------- Puskas (10)

Kopa (7) -------- Di Stefano (9) -------- Gento (11)

@RM17

Ah, Di Stefano was a 'striker', as he himself likes to call it. But I've seen full videos of matches he's played. He never played up front. He'd be the man who picks up the ball from a short pass from the GK's goal kick, pass through the defenders and the midfielders, send the ball to a winger (Gento) to get on the end of a nice pass, then dribble past the defenders and score. He was effectively a box-to-box midfielder, no matter how much of a striker he calls himself.

The highest-up he'd ever play regularly was in the zone we now attribute to a AM. The 'Kaka' zone, as I like to call it.

I see what you mean, but I guess thats a box to box striker maybe? He was a striker because that was his place in the formation, his play style was just a bit different. He simply liked to get the ball from the GK and help the team work their way up the pitch, but he was always up there scoring the goals as well. Bit weird now that you mention it, we don't see that type of player now days.

BTW, can you give me the links of the matches you watched him play? Would honestly LOVE to watch them.

@Raimondo
i agree with what you wrote in your last post except for the fact that it's not just simple matter of personal "opinions". to be able to properly judge a player you need to know the game of football and how it is played and the way the ball itself is treated. if one is not proficient in that, then his opinion is hardly a valid one. it's like judging a guitarist, if you don't play the instrument and/or you don't know how music is written and played, you won't be able to tell if that guitarist is good. and throwing statistics all over the place won't help either. it's like saying Britney Spears is a good singer because she won this and that, sold millions. that's an extreme example, but it helps to get what i mean. since there's people in this forum who aren't able to distinguish a good rabona from a bad one, i feel like a remark in this regard is needed.

@Dynastian98
*"...The football you see today is TF. Each and every kind of it. TF *is football nowadays. And it has been this way for the last 40 years..."

not really. modern football retained some principles brought in by total football, such as zonal marking and high pressing, adapting it to the various game systems. total football surely revolutionized the game and contributed to what football is today, but to say that today's football as a whole is total football, it's a bit of a stretch.