[JoeUtd]

It's a shame, in a way, that Messi & Ronaldo are around and reaching their peaks at the same time. Instead of appreciating that these 2 are truly special players, people seek to compare them all the time.

[Jordan_1]

(Original post by JoeUtd)
It's a shame, in a way, that Messi & Ronaldo are around and reaching their peaks at the same time. Instead of appreciating that these 2 are truly special players, people seek to compare them all the time.

Not really. In my opinion they both drive each other to be the best that they can be, if there was just one then there would be no competition and less motivation.

Plus I think it's good thing that we are able to compare them.

[JoeUtd]

(Original post by Jordan_1)
Not really. In my opinion they both drive each other to be the best that they can be, if there was just one then there would be no competition and less motivation.

Plus I think it's good thing that we are able to compare them.

I don't feel Ronaldo gets the appreciation he deserves, purely because Messi is better. He is, probably, the greatest athlete to have ever graced the game.

[KingZizou]

he scores 73 goals in a season for barca this season, but 0 in the world cup. people say a player can't be responsible for a whole teams performance, therefore he doesn't need to win the world cup to be considered a great, but does nobody remember what zidane did in 06? he came out of retirement as an old man and took france to the final all by himself, raping a brazil team full of household names in the process, why can't messi do this?

argentina are certainly carry'able, with players like mascherano, pastore, tevez, lavezzi, demichelis, heinze, di maria, higuain etc. if you replace messi in that squad with zidane, maradona, pele, fat ronaldo argentina would make it to the final at least. this is why messi can not be considered one of the best of all time.

he has proven that he can only perform for the best team of all time. zidane and fat ronaldo did their thing in every team they played for (+internationally). they didn't rely on a certain system and certain players (xavi, iniesta).

messi is not even close to being the best of all time. he isn't even carrying barca, xavi and iniesta are.

this is a zidane performance (every touch he took of the ball in the match) in his WORST ever season:

100% pass accuracy, doesn't lose the ball once, epic red card

this is a zidane performance FIVE years after retirement (at age 39), he is STILL better than messi:

that is what you call a legend, not that argentinian dwarf

zizou has won literally everything you could possibly win as a footballer. it's disrespectful to say messi is a better player than the man who taught the world how to play football.

[Tommyjw]

[Akkuz]

Random fact but apparently in his professional career Zidane was never caught offside once

Mess is still so young, he hasn't even reached his prime. Who's to say he won't win a world cup? He is certainly the best player in the world at present alongside Ronaldo.

[F1Addict]

(Original post by Tommyjw)

Haha brilliant!

[xDave-]

Messi can't do this either

[Jordan_1]

(Original post by KingZizou)
he scores 73 goals in a season for barca this season, but 0 in the world cup. people say a player can't be responsible for a whole teams performance, therefore he doesn't need to win the world cup to be considered a great, but does nobody remember what zidane did in 06? he came out of retirement as an old man and took france to the final all by himself, raping a brazil team full of household names in the process, why can't messi do this?

argentina are certainly carry'able, with players like mascherano, pastore, tevez, lavezzi, demichelis, heinze, di maria, higuain etc. if you replace messi in that squad with zidane, maradona, pele, fat ronaldo argentina would make it to the final at least. this is why messi can not be considered one of the best of all time.

he has proven that he can only perform for the best team of all time. zidane and fat ronaldo did their thing in every team they played for (+internationally). they didn't rely on a certain system and certain players (xavi, iniesta).

messi is not even close to being the best of all time. he isn't even carrying barca, xavi and iniesta are.

this is a zidane performance (every touch he took of the ball in the match) in his WORST ever season:

100% pass accuracy, doesn't lose the ball once, epic red card

this is a zidane performance FIVE years after retirement (at age 39), he is STILL better than messi:

that is what you call a legend, not that argentinian dwarf

zizou has won literally everything you could possibly win as a footballer. it's disrespectful to say messi is a better player than the man who taught the world how to play football.

The idiocy...

Was Zidane 24 when he 'won the world cup by himself'? People are forgetting Messi is still very young and has at least 2 or 3 world cups left.

Your point about Iniesta and Xavi just shows how clueless and moronic you are. They have hardly assisted Messi at all this season, and you say Messi hasn't carried Barcelona this season? He scored around 75% of Barca's goals this season and has the second highest assist rate in the la liga just behing Ozil.

Lets not forget that the France team who won the world cup had some other great players such as Henry, Trezeguet, Pires etc.

[Shaun1991]

Absolutely stupid logic. You base your opinion on whether a player is the 'best of all time' on their talent. Messi's talent is unquestionable despite the fact he has not performed to his best on the international stage, he has in the Champions League which sees him play against the same breed of players who play in the World Cup. I think it's pretty impossible to consider any player as the best of all time, but your reasoning in concluding that Messi definitely is not, is wrong.

[KingZizou]

(Original post by Akkuz)
Random fact but apparently in his professional career Zidane was never caught offside once

Mess is still so young, he hasn't even reached his prime. Who's to say he won't win a world cup? He is certainly the best player in the world at present alongside Ronaldo.

yeah i know that. he was actually caught offside once (forgot who against), but it was a wrong decision.

messi is young, and yes he is in his prime. his game relies a lot on pace, which he will lose with age. zidane never got worse as he aged because his game relied on intelligence and technique. if messi got to the semi's in a world cup and couldn't fork out a single goal, what makes you think he'll win a world cup? i promise you he won't.

[KingZizou]

(Original post by Jordan_1)
The idiocy...

Was Zidane 24 when he 'won the world cup by himself'? People are forgetting Messi is still very young and has at least 2 or 3 world cups left.

he was 25 when he scored the 2 late, winning goals against brazil, which won france the world cup. yes he did win it for them, if it wasn't for those 2 goals france would have lost.

then he came out of retirement as an old man. the guy was 34, and could have easily won the world cup for france all by himself.

(Original post by Jordan_1)
Your point about Iniesta and Xavi just shows how clueless and moronic you are. They have hardly assisted Messi at all this season, and you say Messi hasn't carried Barcelona this season? He scored around 75% of Barca's goals this season and has the second highest assist rate in the la liga just behing Ozil.

so why can he not perform without xavi and iniesta? what has he done for argentina? scoring goals isn't the same as carrying a team. when zidane carried a team he made sure they never lost possession, he moved them around and controlled the game all by himself.

i've said this before and i'll say it again. messi will attempt to dribble past defenders 10 times in a match, and it will only work twice. zidane will try it 3 times, and it will work all 3 times. don't bring up stats. what about when messi tried to dribble past chelsea defenders in CL, got dispossessed and ended up conceding a goal and getting knocked out of the CL? that **** doesn't get added to the stat book

(Original post by Jordan_1)
Lets not forget that the France team who won the world cup had some other great players such as Henry, Trezeguet, Pires etc.

let's not forget that the brazil team they had to beat were a lot better than any national team in today's game aswell. zidane could easily win a world cup with players like aguero, tevez, lavezzi, mascherano etc. in today's world.

[Karaiyar]

Cruyff didn't win a WC either, still he's considered one of the best of all time by "everyone". There's no doubt that Messi is already up there with the best, but he'll probably have to perform on elite level(not necessarily win) for Argentina to be considered the greatest by the majority though.. He's still young and has a lot of time to sort out his international career.

[CB91]

(Original post by KingZizou)
yeah i know that. he was actually caught offside once (forgot who against), but it was a wrong decision.

messi is young, and yes he is in his prime. his game relies a lot on pace, which he will lose with age. zidane never got worse as he aged because his game relied on intelligence and technique. if messi got to the semi's in a world cup and couldn't fork out a single goal, what makes you think he'll win a world cup? i promise you he won't.

Messi's game relies on his quick footwork, not pace. Messi will probably be in his prime in 2-3 years.

[Karaiyar]

(Original post by Jordan_1)

Lets not forget that the France team who won the world cup had some other great players such as Henry, Trezeguet, Pires etc.

I'd say their defense was the main factor in them winning the WC.

[KingZizou]

(Original post by Shaun1991)
Absolutely stupid logic. You base your opinion on whether a player is the 'best of all time' on their talent. Messi's talent is unquestionable despite the fact he has not performed to his best on the international stage, he has in the Champions League which sees him play against the same breed of players who play in the World Cup. I think it's pretty impossible to consider any player as the best of all time, but your reasoning in concluding that Messi definitely is not, is wrong.

messi's talent is very one-dimensional. he is a good passer (not as good as zidane obviously) and can dribble past defenders and score. that's all he can do. he can only play with barcelona's system. if you want to be the greatest player of all time you should have to ability to perform no matter what team you play for. ZZ brought success to every team he played for, he has never lost against brazil in a world cup and has won everything that messi is praying to win.

even 5 years after retirement and at age 39, he's still in perfect form. these are the traits of a great, great player

[Karaiyar]

(Original post by KingZizou)
messi is young, and yes he is in his prime. his game relies a lot on pace, which he will lose with age. zidane never got worse as he aged because his game relied on intelligence and technique. if messi got to the semi's in a world cup and couldn't fork out a single goal, what makes you think he'll win a world cup? i promise you he won't.

Except Messi is one of the best playmakers in the world already. His passing and vision is exceptional, so while he won't be the same player once he declines physically he has every chance to adapt and be equally effective in a different role.

[tommm]

(Original post by Akkuz)
Random fact but apparently in his professional career Zidane was never caught offside once

This is often stated, and would be quite cool if true, but sadly it isn't true.

e.g. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/1...wsstory.sport6 56 minutes.

[manchesterunited15]

You can't show a soccer aid video as proof of someone being good The little one from JLS looked good last night

[jameslad]

What if the best player in the world was Welsh.

Say he didn't win the WC. Then what?