The Greatest Of All Time

Talk about flogging a dead horse. This is the easiest topic to milk in the realm of football related content. They claim to have once and for all “settled the debate” and then 2 months down the line, re-cycle the same analysis and say exactly the same thing. Pointless.

So naturally, I’m here to settle the debate. Wait, did I not tell you I’m a hypocrite? Oh well…

Who is the greatest till date? Messi or Ronaldo?

Now what I could do is dive deep into the accomplishments of each, analyzing away furiously, and then finally eloquently manipulate my argument to declare a winner that was never really in the jeopardy of losing in the first place. But for some reason, I’ll try to be objective this time.

The Stats are there for all to see, the trophies won, the goals to game ratio, the assists per game ratio, the tax evasions to income ratio and so forth. Mentioning them here is redundant. I’m, pretty sure there is an entire website dedicated to just the stat comparisons between these two. What I will mention, however, is how I feel about these two players, or more accurately, how I feel about this pointless debate. And I’m going to keep it very short. In fact, it all can be summed up basically in one solitary sentence.

There is no one way to play football.

Absorb it. All the fanboys, drink it in. Look past the sheet of blind faith and understand every player is different. Every player is physically and mentally unique. And Messi and Ronaldo are at the pinnacle of their contrasting playstyles. Yin and Yang.

Messi is a dribbler, aided by a low center of gravity, he’s played like this all his life. He is a visionary, and can thread a needle with his passes. This he has honed over the years. He is not a physical specimen, but he is the most agile player there ever was. His footballing brain is unparralled. His panache irresistible.

He scores for fun, ridiculing opponents in the process. Football is easy for Messi. That is why you see many professionals commenting on how he is the greatest. Because, they play the same sport and know, the things that he can do with a football are beyond them.

What more can be said about him. If Ronaldo did not exist, this would be his world.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, quiet simply is a monster. A freak. Jack of all trades, master of a lot of them. Without a diminutive frame, he had to rely on trickery to dribble past players in his early years. As he got older, he constantly adapted his game, to what was required to be the best. He did what was needed and not what he wanted to. Sometimes it was not pretty, it did not need to be. While Messi’s footballing genius was insurmountable, Ronaldo developed a different kid of genius. He developed a mentality, that I personally believe is the strongest in all of sport.

The will to win.

The will to say that he would “smash” Atletico before a crucial Champions League second leg match, after being beaten 2–0 away in the first leg…and going on to score a hattrick in that game.

The will to score a last minute freekick against Spain to save his team, one he shouldn't be scoring, going by his poor freekick stats from recent times.

Quite simply, this guy played during the era of Messi….and rejected it. Decided that no one would ignore his name when Messi was mentioned. He is the reason for this debate’s existence. He dared, and he achieved.

So, umm, who’s better?

The greatest dribbler or the greatest goal-scorer? The visionary passer or the Aerial freak of nature? The best with the ball or the best without it? The Top Scorer in Spain at 34 or the Top Scorer in Italy at 36? The Best with the same playstyle or the Best with evolving playstyles?

You choose. No, really!! you choose what you prefer. It is merely a matter of preference and nothing else.

A fun fact people often overlook is that this is,in the end, a team sport.

Without Eder, Cristiano is not a European Champion. Without Di Maria, Messi is a serial bottler with Argentina.

The debate will continue to go on until it cannot be milked further. The smart ones know they have a preference, but will never disregard the other. There is no definitive answer, you pick what you prefer, based on the football you like.

Instead of resolving pointless debates, let us enjoy these top athletes as they enter the twilight of their careers, and hope someday someone else has the audacity to rise to their level.