he can be a good player people like messi better i don't

@marcus

At this point I'm unsure which of us is being more sarcastic.

@chelsea

Messi's dribbling has a far higher success rate than Ronaldo's, no one denies that. As for everything else, Messi, especially in his last few years has played further back, so he naturally creates more and finishes less, while we've seen the opposite happen in Ronaldo's career, where he was a creator first at United and in his first few seasons in Madrid, as is reflected by both his lower goal tally and increased chances created metric, but now has more goals and fewer chances created, although interestingly more assists as well.

As for, "we all know Cristiano wait in the penalty box to score" you'd have a hard time finding a large amount of goals where he's actually static in the box, usually when he does score from around the six it's from a run that began nowhere near the net. I could get into how 2 CB's will NEVER get beat out by a static striker in the box, but you're smart, you can figure it out.

Going into the other stats you mentioned, Messi is always going to have higher pass accuracy because Barcelona cannot play a pass more than 5 yards, while Madrid relies often on hard counters where most passes are 50/50. That is not reflective of the players, just the systems they are in.

I don't like Barcelona, I think they've too successful recently and it's good for the balance of the game for them to lose a bit, but there isn't a lot of love lost for Madrid either. I did not come to the conclusions I have based on a homer's perspective, but instead on statistics and presence on the pitch.

I like Messi, and I like Ronaldo. I recognize that they're both fantastic players, and there have been seasons where Messi has been better, and seasons where Ronaldo has been better. Right now, I think that we are in the latter period, which is why I think Ronaldo is the best player in the world as of writing this.

@chelsea8 why are you only looking at messi strength, Ronaldo has more aerials won and shots on target. If you are going to go on about Ronaldo takes uselss shots, well I agree. Most of his shots are all from impossible angles. But than again The reason why Messi has more chances created, passes completed and dribbles, cause he has the ball more than any other player, every pass will lead to Messi.

Even as a forward, messi has the most possession, more than Rakitic and Busquets. If this was Ronaldo, most will definitely call him selfish. Messi has more time on the ball than Ronaldo does.

You guys made some very good points but for me messi is a better overal player (passing,dribbling,assist,chances created and scores alot goals).
Ronaldo is a better striker(scores more goals).

I enjoy them both and they are head&shoulder(shampoo) above other players at what they do.

:)

People really don't understand how amazing the level is that Messi and Ronaldo are on. Here's a stat, when Kaka won the Ballon d'Or in 2007 (last player other than Messi and Ronaldo to do so) he had 20 goals and 13 assists that season. That's two thirds of the way to the WORST season the both Ronaldo and Messi have had since 2007.

Absolutely amazing.

Indeed @SunFlash. Their standard is just rocket sky high that if they choke badly for some reasons, the stat would still be above all previous Ballon d'Or holders

@SunFlash marcusrashford is not joking, but the new member is young, lets give it some space :D

Heskey> messi&ronaldo.

Compare Ronaldo with Suarez please.

@Tiki

Mate, you're better than that. Please stop blindly hating.

@chelsea8 Thats classic banter right here, don't forget that Akinfenwa is just as good as Heskey. ;P

@emo, mate akinfenwa is a legend you could actually compare him with zidane :D.

@Dynastian

Tiki has a fair question. Imo, Suarez was better than Messi last season, and while that's just my opinion, it does present a case worthy of comparison.

If we look at stats, Suarez scored more goals than Ronaldo, and anyone else for that matter, last season. It does seem to make sense that a true striker would lead that category, but we have been spoiled by the brilliance of Ronaldo and Messi coming off the wings in the last decade.

EDIT: Keep in mind that Suarez is third on the totem pole for taking pks, while the opposite is true for both Ronaldo and Messi.

Suarez also contributed more assists, but again, this is due to the system. The final pass before a goal in Barcelona's team nearly always occurs because of short quick passes that happen in the 18-yard box. This means that Suarez is involved in nearly every goal Barcelona score, which is not a knock on him, obviously, in fact, one could say it enhances his prestige. But this can be seen clearly by looking at the assist tallies of other Barca players, for example, Iniesta, the midfield god, only had 3 assists last season. He plays amazing passes to all corners of the pitch, but none that could count as assists, while Suarez completes the one small pass/layoff that gives the goal to Messi/Neymar on a plate. It's what a good complete striker should be doing, as seen by the fact that players such as Troy Deeney, Giroud, and Costa were among the assist leaders in the BPL last season. But in this instance, assists do not measure vision/passing ability for target strikers, usually they in fact measure the runs and finishing ability of those around them.

I would personally argue that an assist from a winger, such as Messi and Ronaldo, or even better, an assist from a CAM/CM/LM/RM/LB/RB shows far more than an assist from a striker. Because it's not a simple pass, when we think of an assist, we think of a game-breaking through ball, fantastic cross...an assist from a striker rarely embodies that.

Of course, all goals are created equal, a half-volley from thirty yards is worth just as much as a goalkeeper scoring an own goal by having his goal kick ricochet of the butt of his centreback into the net.

I still prefer Ronaldo right now, but I think you'd have an easier argument saying Suarez is the best player in the world right now as opposed to Messi.

@Chelsea8 I don't mate, Zidane was really good but I still don't think he was as good as Akinfenwa. ;P

@Sun Interesting point when you think about it, in my opinion Suarez had a season on the same level as Messi and Ronaldo and maybe a even better one at that. If you remember, I did a thread were the user would vote for their best player of the season and Suarez came on top with a 3 or 4 vote advantage above Messi and Ronaldo who were pretty even. So, I think that in the mind of many people, Suarez is on the same level as those two. Then again, its hard to compare a striker to two wingers cause its not the same thing really.

Those who know football know that Suarez and Ronaldo are more similar than Messi, who can be compared technically to Iniesta, to Hazard in term of dribble. And to Xavi/Pirlo in term of vision.... Suarez or Ronaldo do not impact a game more than their respective positions, they do not own midlefield. Both have hunger of goals, both score 4 or 5 vs weaker opposition but both can't be compared to Messi, as simple as that for me. No banter, we talk about whole potential of player, one able of dribling 6 players and able to still finish, others the best in their position in term of finishing. stats are not enough to be the best, it's not a 100m sport, we talk about football here.

I completely agree with @tiki.

We're all entitled to our opinions.

Some of us value some aspects of the game over others, and that will always influence opinion. Variety is the spice of life.

@Sun Indeed, we all see thing differently, what important is to respect other people opinion, some people prefer Messi, other like Ronaldo best but at the end of the day, accepting that other have a different opinion than yours on the topic is the more mature way of seeing thing. I think the one thing we can all agree Ronaldo, Suarez and Messi are all extremely good player and that it, no need to fight and argue as we we'll never be able to convince most people anyway. ;)

Buuuuut at the end of the day messi has 5 ballon d'ors and ronaldo 3 which were chosen by managers and journalists who know something about football.

Ronaldo is getting his fourth soon, but again BO is only about who's team And nation have been the best over the season, if Atleti And France won CL And Euro Griezmann who had a huge year could have been a huge contender. Now imo as I said unlike we compare those 3 in term of finishing And mental I dont see how any of Ronaldo/Suarez could compete with Messi in other eras of the game, They arent even top 5 in other aspects like vision, pace, passing, dribbling, chance creating. Neymar And Hazard are better in term of dribbling, in term of passing They arent even top 5 Iniesta, Cesc, Silva, Modric....

I can make top 10 of many aspects of the game, Messi would be first second or third. My point as you said no need to blame me for it, or to change yours....

@chelsea8 In my opinion, ballon d'or doesn't really prove your superior, I mean, there was plenty of player with legendary skill and incredible achievement who didn't get a single one. Thats a personal opinion but I understand where you're coming from.