Well, i am going to go with Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo, because of his long shots and his other strengths that @Amir_Keal mentioned in his thread 'Cristiano Ronaldo'. However, i do realise, that the Brazilian Ronaldo "The Phenomenon" was a lethal striker, a deadly finisher and had many other strengths as well... It was a hard decision to make, but i had to go with Cristiano...

Leave your thoughts and opinions down below... :)

PS. I got the idea from the homepage of FootyRoom - Sorry.. :)

Dude, I appreciate everything that Ronnie has done for us. If you read my comments in the past, I always refer CR7 as Ronnie (a nickname us United fans gave him) or CR7. But he will never be "the" Ronaldo for me. Just like there will always be one Beckham, one Cryuff, and one Pele.

And as for what Ronaldo did for us? He did it for himself...he always said he wanted to play in Bernabeu, and he was desperate for a chance from United. Considering his heart operation, and after Fergie sacrificed Rooney and Tevez at striker for Ronaldo, I would not have expected anything less from Ronaldo. He was a true professional, and I truly appreciate his contribution to our team. But saying he ALONE did so much to the team is such a disrespectful statement to the rest of the team considering Scholes was the one pulling the strings for that team, and Rooney and Tevez played selfless roles on the wings in feeding him with all the assists.

Edit:

@ashwin well, damn. You have to be one of the few utd fans who feels this way about Cristiano.

@Madrista: You called him Cristiano, yourself. You're a Real Madrid fan. Considering all he did for you (a lot more than what he did for us), why'd you call him Cristiano and Ronaldo? Just a question. :P

Whatever people say, you can not simply deny the impact of fear factor and respect that the original Ronaldo commanded in opponents, which will never be matched by CR7.

I cannot disagree more. I've watched him his entire Real Madrid career and for most of his United career too. At United, he was the man pulling all the strings - whether it was key passes, crosses, shots, dribbles. At Madrid he was much more terrifying because he added world-class finishing to his arsenal. The moment he stepped on the ball, defenses would pack themselves in an attempt to stop him.

Look at how Simeone marks Messi and Ronaldo. He marks them the same way - keeping one man on them at all times and having another two men have Ronaldo/Messi as their secondary focus. Just the sheer amount of attention the two of them command when on the pitch is more than enough to show the fear factor.

Have a look at this video of Ronaldo in his prime (28/29 years old). Gary Neville breaks it down perfectly. This is Sevilla he was doing this to.

@Dynast: Dude, I see players marking Ronaldo and Messi...hell, Jose once put like 7 players around Leo. There's no denying that. But what you need to consider is the rules in tackling players. Today, a slide challenge on either of these two players will result in Red or a Yellow. Back in late 90's Footy was still a men's sport, and the number of drama queens were considerably less. I still remember the days of Keane and Viera, where if a player was making you run in circles, a good solid tackle set the tone for the game. Back then, the Refs left players decide the match. As in if a player was burning your defense consistently, opponents used to tackle hard. I would really love to see how Ronaldo and Mess would do when the players were very physical. The original Ronaldo was so good, that even tackles didn't stop him. I don't remember the exact match, but on duty with Brazil he stood up after a tackle, and went about his business of scoring a goal. That was Ronaldo. Of course, in the end his injuries did catch up to him. Now tell me that Ronaldo or Messi would get up after a tackle and try to shoot the ball.

Now tell me that Ronaldo or Messi would get up after a tackle and try to shoot the ball.

They both would if that was the situation they were in. But they don't. It's the same reason why LeBron James flops so much. Referees give a lot of protection to attacking players nowadays. Defending is more difficult than ever. Why get up after a tackle when you know that there's a good chance you get the free-kick? Physical specimens like CR7 would sure be able to adapt to the environment of the 90's if that's when he was playing. One look at his body and you can tell he's a physical beast. Messi was almost a carbon-copy of Maradona when he was 19-20. If Maradona could perform like that through the 80's, then there's no reason for me to believe that Messi wouldn't be able to.

Additionally, I don't see how your point proves either Ronaldo deserves more attention than the other.

Physical specimens like CR7 would sure be able to adapt to the environment of the 90's if that's when he was playing. One look at his body and you can tell he's a physical beast.

@Dynast: You do know that Ronnie was disciplined for diving at United initially? EPL was still a physical league in his early years. Now, considering that, why did he not try to get up and score back then? Ronnie is one hell of a physical specimen, but a lot of it comes mentality. He didn't get the nickname Penaldo for no reason.

For all kids on this forum. Ronaldo (the Brazilian) is the best of all times.

I thought Cristiano was a very selfish diva back in his Utd days, and I have no doubt that he did all of that for himself. Point is, regardless who he did it for, Utd benefited from his service.

Also I'm quite aware that it's a team effort but no one is speaking about that. If we were taking about Scholes I wouldn't have mentioned Ronaldo or anyone else, just like I mentioned Ronaldo by himself.

@Ashwin

That was because he came from Portugal. The Portuguese football culture during the 2000's had a lot of play-acting. If he played in Italy in the 80's instead of Portugal in the 00's then he would be a different player.

Cristiano without question. The consistency at the absolute top is unreal.

@Dynast:

That was because he came from Portugal. The Portuguese football culture during the 2000's had a lot of play-acting. If he played in Italy in the 80's instead of Portugal in the 00's then he would be a different player.

Isn't that contradicting your earlier statement of how players would adapt?

Physical specimens like CR7 would sure be able to adapt to the environment of the 90's if that's when he was playing.

But EPL was physical when Ronnie came there; it is still physical. The point I'm trying to make is that Ronnie has much more help than Ronaldo did.

Moreover, doesn't your statement about the Portuguese football just support my argument about player mentality? And I do not really know for sure that it's Italian football that made him tough, but watching several legends overs the years, I can not help notice that most of them have played in the Eredivisie and there is something in the Dutch waters that has produced many gems over the years.

Clearly Cristiano, but I prefer R9

cr7 mainly because i have watched him live and seen the impact he has on games, and with r9 i have only seen his highlights

No doubt Ronaldo is the better .

The Brazilian one ofcourse .

Cristiano Ronaldo is my pick.

The man is the best professional player of all time first of all, all coaches that saw him or trained him have said so and we are talking about some of the best managers of all time.

Second Cristiano Ronaldo didn't have any big injury problems in his career so far and he is still in top shape, where the brazilian has had much more ups and downs in his career.

Third, records. In Manchester United he became the best player since George Best. He scored +50 goals in 5 campaigns, he broke Real Madrid goal record and has had the highest goal ratio in the history of La Liga, then he scored 17 goals in one season of Champions league but ok he also is the only player that won the Golden Shoe four times.

He is the best European football player in football history, this is why I would pick him over the great brazilian Ronaldo, simply Cristiano has been a more consistant player.

CR7 surely.

O phenomeno without any doubt, at his peak, defenders had nightmares before the game.

Yeap, after this 16/17 season everything I said got multiplied, CR7 is just from another planet.

I have watched both play live and on tv. Both have their styles and cause nightmares for opposing players, but I have never seen defenders fear someone more than R9. Perhaps Ronaldinho was more feared overall, but R9 just had this presence. His pace, skill, and power were amazing. I do wish he did not suffer injury so as to really compare the two, but I give it to R9.

I must commend CR7 though as he has earned a lot in his career. He will be on my all time best list, but I still don't see him as my top player yet.

@golazo Yeah Everything is multiplied including the number of your accounts....

Golazo's logic
Maradona > Messi because Maradona has won a world cup.
Ronaldo < CR7 even if Ronaldo has won 2 world cups being best player of the tournment and 2nd best score ever, leading his country to a final in 98.

not even worth arguing.

IMO if we judge on Palmares, both have incredible ones, if we judge on stats CR7 takes it easily, but he had more games but could be related to consistence, big point in his favour, Ronaldo had 2 serious injuries of more than 2 years he never recovered from Inter's one. His career would have been much different but " if " is not an argument.

in term of hall of fame ranking CR7 takes it, in term of potential and Footballing IQ, Phenomeno is in my all time TOP 5.