When we say Lionel Messi isn't a complete footballer but an efficient one who has mastered his craft, you people see it as hate speech.
But let's be honest.
Messi has no other skill apart from body feint. Yes, he is the master of it, the best ever at it, but that's it. That's his whole game. Body feint, close control, and left foot.
The only player incapable of doing everything is Lionel Messi because he's too limited in football, too one-dimensional.
Ronaldo is the only player capable of doing anything with the ball at an elite level. From stepovers, rabonas, body feint, elastico, knuckleball free kicks, headers, weak foot goals, bicycle kicks... name any football skill, Ronaldo has it all.
Messi is efficient. Ronaldo is complete.
Messi found one weapon and perfected it. Ronaldo learned every weapon in the book.
That's the difference between an efficient footballer and a complete footballer.
This is not arrogance. This is a fact so let check.
What does COMPLETE mean?
Complete does not mean most talented. Complete does not mean best dribbler. Complete means you can do EVERYTHING in football at an elite level. And only one player in history can.
Let's break it down:
Left foot? 150+ goals with his left. Messi can't say that about his right.
Right foot? 550+ goals. His main weapon.
Head? 150+ headed goals. The greatest header of the ball ever. Jumps 2.93m, hang time, power. Messi has 30 headed goals in his entire career. That's not complete.
Free kicks? 64 free kick goals. Long range curl, knuckleball.
Penalties? Clutch. Champions League finals, Euros.
Weak foot, strong foot, head, free kicks, long shots, tap-ins, overhead kicks. Cristiano has scored every type of goal. Bicycle kick vs Juventus, header vs Sampdoria, knuckleball vs Portsmouth, solo run vs Getafe.
Name me one type of goal Messi cannot score with his head? He can't. Name me one way Cristiano can't score? You can't.
Complete means complete everywhere.
Top scorer in England - where pace and power matter.
Top scorer in Spain - where technique matters.
Top scorer in Italy - where tactics and defence matter.
Top scorer in Champions League - 7 times.
Top scorer for his country - all-time international top scorer with 130+ goals.
He won league titles in 3 countries, Champions League with 2 clubs, Euros with Portugal, a team that never won anything before him.
What is incomplete about that?
Messi is complete in one system Barcelona, tiki-taka, short passes, 4-3-3, on the ground. Take him out of that system and put him in Stoke on a rainy night or against prime Serie A defenders, he disappears. We saw it at PSG - 32 goals in 75 games.
Cristiano is complete in ANY system. Counter-attack at United, possession at Real, defensive at Juventus, crossing at Portugal. He adapts, he scores.
He earned the right.
950+ career goals. 5 Ballon d'Ors. 5 Champions Leagues. Played 20+ years at the highest level. Never protected by a club. Built himself from Madeira streets to Manchester to Madrid to Turin to Saudi. No academy built for him, no Xavi and Iniesta feeding him for 15 years.
So when he looks in the camera and says "I am the most complete player ever" - he is not asking for your opinion. He is telling you what real ball knowers already knew since 2014.
You don't have to believe him.
You just have to know football.
If you want to be respected, taken seriously, and included in rooms where life-changing opportunities exist, you need to do some honest introspection.
If you’re guilty of these things, especially 5, 6, 10 and 11, don’t be surprised when people stop including you in important things.
1. Don’t be the guy who sends people his account number without being asked.
Someone gets paid, buys something expensive, or appears to have money, and your next move is to slide into their DM with your account details.
That’s very weird. Get rid of that sense of entitlement.
If you want to point out something that doesn't make sense, you must also use your sense. If they say the depth of the Red Sea is about 10,000ft, it doesn't meat that's the depth from begining till the end. That's the deepest part of it. The sea is not in a rectangular bowl.
Let's forget religion and miracle for a while and look at it scientifically like you're trying to. At the shore, the depth is at the same level with the ground they were on. Gradually as they go on, the depth will continue to increase. Don't forget that The Red Sea is about 2,250km long. That's 7,381,889 feet! So, it is very possible for 10,000ft height to be gradually distributed across 7,381,889ft, without anyone walking across it feeling like they were falling or climbing mountain.
Scored 18 Premier League goals at 37 and was labelled a problem because he was supposedly “holding back” the progress of the young players.
Since he left and the young players were free to develop:
- Greenwood ended up at Fenerbahce
- Absolutely nobody wants to sign Rashford
- Jadon Sancho is a free agent at 26
- Elanga ended up at Newcastle
Since Ronaldo left, not a single United player has managed to score 18 Premier League goals.
It’s sad how United fans are actually allergic to great players.
Bruh, the moment Cole Palmer scored and then he, James and Joao Pedro hit the cold celebration… water nearly commot for my eyes. 😭
My dear club is BACK! 😭💙
On the Day Ronaldo scores his 1000 Goal,
We are having Three parties.
One in Lagos
One in Abuja
One in Enugu
Every Ronaldo fan that will like to attend, like and retweet this post, I’ll send a Dm.