You want to talk about the complete body of work? Letโs actually look at the categories you listed, because by every single objective footballing metric, Messi destroys Ronaldo across them.
You try to define completeness by physical traits: scoring headers and using both feet while completely ignoring the actual core components of football. Ronaldo is a complete FINISHER, not a complete FOOTBALLER.
Messi dominates every single phase of an attack. He is the best goalscorer, the best passer, the best progressor, and the best dribbler. Ronaldo cannot dictate a game, he cannot drop deep to construct play from midfield, and he cannot create something out of nothing for his teammates. He is entirely reliant on the service provided to him. Messi is the entire attacking system.
"efficiency > aesthetics" Messi isn't just preferred because he looks smoother, he is preferred because he is vastly more efficient. Messi has a significantly higher goals-m per game ratio than Ronaldo while taking far fewer shots. He possesses a higher shot conversion rate and achieves all of his goalscoring records while playing fewer games and recording hundreds of more assists. If we are talking pure efficiency, Messi is the most clinical weapon the sport has ever seen, all while operating as a primary playmaker.
And this idea that Ronaldo proved himself by jumping leagues is the biggest myth his fanboys cooked up. He didn't move to different leagues for a "challenge" he moved to teams that were already monopolies. He joined a United side that had just won the Premier League, a Madrid that spent record breaking hundreds of millions to build a super team around him, and a Juventus squad that had literally won seven straight Serie A titles before he arrived. Moving from one ready made domestic powerhouse to another isn't a demonstration of adaptability it's just picking the easiest situation to pad your personal numbers.
Messi stayed at Barcelona through structural collapses, carrying entirely dysfunctional boards and broken squads on his back, and still delivered historic dominance.
You say the GOAT conversation is about the complete body of work. It really is. Just that the complete body of work actually shows that Messi has more Ballon d'Ors, more European Golden Shoes, more major trophies, and the ultimate crown a World Cup where he won Player of the Tournament. Ronaldoโs entire case relies heavily on being the all time top scorer, yet Messi is trailing him by just a handful of goals despite playing over 160 fewer matches. By the time the dust settles, Ronaldo won't even have the one metric you base his entire identity on.
Preferring Ronaldo isnโt just an opinion, itโs an active choice to ignore the actual mechanics of football. You are prioritizing social media influence over the actual 90 minutes of total on pitch dominance. You can write all the criteria you want to move the goalposts, but the reality on the leaves your boy firmly in second place. Sorry.
Bro
Messi is not the greatest ever, he's not even the 2nd greatest ever and he's definitely not also the greatest Argentine footballer ever.
Whatever points you bring for Messi can only work for people that want to be gaslighted, not people like Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Cherki, Me and many more people, even Maradona once said he wished Ronaldo was Argentine, Pele loved Ronaldo so much, he doesn't even rate Messi but you want me to leave all of them and listen to you about a player that
- Had everything on a platter for him
- Retired cowardly from the national team
- Never got signed for even 1 pound throughout his career to have pressure on himself like Ronaldo, R9, Zidane, Pogba, Neymar and other expensive signings
There is nothing Messi has over Ronaldo than dribbling and chance creation but that's not the only thing football is about.
You lot try all your best to force people to accept one GOAT ๐ which can never be possible.
To shock you, even in Argentina, a recent poll still showed almost 40% still consider Maradona greater than Messi and many that witnessed Maradona are dead, so those that voted him are dumb right?
Stop messing around, no amount of Balon D'ors or World Cup can make me lift him above the 3 I mentioned, infact, if the briberies of Negreira are true, he's not even gonna find himself in my top 10.
Football is not for Messi lovers, it's for football lovers, stop disturbing people that choose Pele, Maradona and Ronaldo as their GOAT ๐ face your own GOAT.
It's as simple as that.
Have a great day expert ๐๐ฟ
@Wizarab10 They can't all be true can they? If there is only one God then only one religion can be true. We will find out in the end. But in the goat debate we've already seen the end. You can bark all you want and claim 2 goats or that goat. Self delusion does not erase objective truth.
@ESPNFC Mehn, do you people realise the depth of what he's saying? ๐
First of all he's making it clear that the ref was spot on in the Egypt game. The second layer is that the ref is a French man. And Deschamps is aware of that. In fact 3 of the 4 officials for that game were French! ๐
@K3N3_X Even when his scoring reduced cos he was in a different system and didn't have to necessarily be the best at both like Barce needed him to be, he remained the best creator. He stayed putting up numbers that rivaled your fav creators.
@K3N3_X He provided 14 assists in 28 matches played(2nd highest in the ligue btw). He hit the woodwork a freaking 11x (highest recorded in a single season since opta started tracking). 11x in 28 matches, if even a fraction of those shots went in, his goal tally rises to double figures.
@K3N3_X He missed 12 matches in the ligue that season. And of the 26 matches he played, he played full 90 in only 22 of them. He started 2x from the bench and subbed off 2x. He produced only 6 ligue goals but Messi is so much more than a goalscorer and everybody knows it, including you.
@K3N3_X If you were even a little bit objective. You wouldn't call that a successful hatewatch. Or maybe you're just one of those casuals who speak with little to no knowledge. Or perhaps you know, but the brain-rot has set in so you cannot analyse the data. Let me remind you.
@K3N3_X Even though his goalscoring dipped in his first PSG season, his creative output remained the best in Ligue 1, and statistically he was the league's premier chance creator over his two-year stay.
@K3N3_X He created 93 chances in Ligue 1 22/23. He led ligue 1 in through balls (58) and carries ending in a chance creation (30).
Over 2 years he created 157 chances, 42 of them BIG CHANCES!
@K3N3_X He contributed directly to 20 ligue goals in 26 appearances. That's a great season for any player. But of course he's the goat so standards are higher. But still this was a guy supposed to be adapting to a new club, in a different ligue. Yet he put up those numbers.