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u/iwishiwasntthisway Jul 19 '26
Messi still being this good really made people forget how good prime CR7 was
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u/investing11213 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
We're lucky to see them both play and compete in the same era
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u/KOnvictEd06 Jul 19 '26
Yall are real fans. We are indeed lucky to have witnessed them. Just being a Blind Messi or Ronaldo fan - they won't understand this. Cr7 will always have a special place in my heart and Messi i respect him for still being sharp and scoring as a 38 year old. We grew up watching Maradona Pele, Crouch , Joga Bonito to Nike Rip the script. Beautiful football era !
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u/anangrypudge Jul 19 '26
Explosive power, rapid changes of direction, insane leaps and a ridiculously powerful shot. Unfortunately all the things that naturally fade with age, while Messi’s main strengths are the qualities that can last a little longer.
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u/StrikingHearing8 Jul 19 '26
I don't know, messi plays very different from ~10 years ago, a lot less dribblings because he definitely got slower etc. I think it's interesting how he adapted his play as he got older
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u/The_BAHbuhYAHguh Jul 19 '26
Meanwhile Ranaldo is almost irrelevant at this point… yeah his prime was impressive to say the least but Messi is about to be the 2026 golden boot winner and creates opportunities just by touching the ball. Ranaldo just wants to shoot while Messi makes magic throughout the pitch
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u/StrikingHearing8 Jul 19 '26
but Messi is about to be the 2026 golden boot winner
He would need at least two goals, not sure that that is happening in a final against spain.
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u/Away_Needleworker6 Jul 19 '26
He would need minimum 2 goals and 1 assist or 3 goals.
Messi is currently losing the tiebreaker if he scores 2 goals.
If he scores 2 goals and plays only 56 minutes he has a chance.
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u/The_BAHbuhYAHguh Jul 19 '26
Messi isn’t selfish so if it doesn’t happen it’s because he wants the team to win and could care less about the accolades. I never count Messi out though and can’t wait for the final! Going to be a great game either way!
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u/FranciscoGarcia69 Jul 19 '26
If it doesn’t happen it’s because he’s playing a team who have conceded one goal all tournament.
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u/V0lirus Jul 19 '26
Messi isn't selfish. He doesn't need to be. The whole team has one philosophy. Put as many balls as possible in the feet of Messi and hope for the best.
No disrespect for Messi, i used to prefer him above Cr7. But the way the Argentinian team idolizes Messi is just creepy AF.
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u/Sayanth14 Jul 19 '26
Nothing creepy about it, the guy gave it his all for decades to help mediocre Argentinian teams win but fell just short. Now he has a bunch of lads who appreciate what he has done for the country and are willing to die for them. I don't think you understand how inspiring it is to a team when your leader after achieving everything in football still bleeds for your team. The one and only reason why Argentina beats teams that are way better than them on paper is only cause the work as one. Just watch any goals they score, you wouldn't know who exactly scored because each player is equally happy to have scored.
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u/lilbala Jul 20 '26
Are we just pretending he didn't retire from playing for Argentina back in the day after losing consecutive Copa America finals?
If that's giving it all then what do we call just about every single other player in the world?
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u/West_Dog7811 Jul 19 '26
Here’s the thing. That dude won multiple ballon d‘ors during prime Messi era. That alone should show they were equals.
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u/Trickaps Jul 19 '26
If it weren't for his shitty personality he'd probably still be competing vs Messi. He never evolved as a person, you see Messi leading, being a captain that's loved by his teammates, while CR7 is just pure ego pretending to play exactly how he did at his 20's.
It's sad, cause he's really one of the best players of all time, and neither Messi, nor CR7 would be as big without each other. You are only as big as your rivalries.
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u/bunchangon Jul 19 '26
This is so true. Not sure why you are getting downvotes.
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u/kiwiplague Jul 19 '26
Because the "CR7" fanboys are legion and hate hearing the truth about him. Great player, shitty human.
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u/Radiant-Cup2123 Jul 19 '26
Nah. Messi is clearly better based on merits alone. CR7 is incredible, but anyone that watches football seriously and has watched it for a long while, at least replaying full matches of Maradona, Platini, Van Basten, Romario, Cruyff, etc.. will know that what Messi did is not normal. CR7 is a beast, but Messi was starting the goat discussions 10 years ago, and if you see most relevant coaches/players opinions the conclusion is quite clear too.
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u/DrPapug Jul 19 '26
Well, post-Europe Ronaldo has been better than post-Europe Messi. I don't understand this 'would probably still be competing with Messi' when he literally won the competition.
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u/Impossible_Divide297 Jul 19 '26
Let’s not forget Portugal 🇵🇹 have never won a World Cup with anyone.
They have won a Euros and a Nations League with him.
He has also succeeded at 3 different European clubs.
I am a Spurs fan BTW.3
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Jul 19 '26
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u/besmarques Jul 19 '26
Lol, what a stupid take.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/besmarques Jul 19 '26
Dumbass that knows shit about footbal thinks Jota was a god and carried Portugal in tournaments that he wasnt even called for...
Mate, just shut it
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Jul 19 '26
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u/Jaktheslaier Jul 19 '26
He literally almost single-handedly carried us into tournaments where we wouldn't be competing otherwise, most notably the 2014 world cup
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u/besmarques Jul 19 '26
No, the point is the you dont know shit about what you are talking.
Thats why you said one player was the 4th best behind a player that wasnt even playing.
And now you double down, he is still 4th.
So, what really happened is that you dont know shit about football and only parrot what you hear online.
You dont have to like Ronaldo, i dont even care about that. But at least base your disliking in what is the true.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/besmarques Jul 19 '26
LOL, thanks again for proving you dont know shit of what you are talking about.
Guess you are too young and that shows. Talking confindetly but completely wrong.
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u/Additional-Topic-581 Jul 19 '26
New to football, wow this looked magic, i was fooled by recent posts to think ronaldo is overrated but this is some fine shit
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u/National-Abalone-210 Jul 19 '26
Once they both retire people will finally apretiate the absolute forces of nature they both were
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u/Kundrew1 Jul 19 '26
Because CR7 fans are the most annoying sports fans in the world.
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u/Express-Ad-4682 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I have seen the worst in the fans of both, it’s never one sided
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u/Fruit_salad1 Jul 19 '26
it really is at this point, so many ai edited pics of messi from this world cup alone, fake quotes to dumb down argentina more and selective clips to show fouls which werent, it has been crazy this time lol
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u/Flappy2885 Jul 19 '26
I'm a Netherlands fan and I hate messi, so my whole feed has been filled with messi committed uncalled fouls on insta. If you're up to defend him, I'll describe some of the fouls I see and you can explain. I'll put my bias aside as well. I want to know what messi fans really think.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/Kundrew1 Jul 19 '26
Most disgusting what? I’m really not even a Messi fan. Def think he’s insanely good but not a super fan or anything
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u/kky231659 Jul 19 '26
I think a lot has to do with attitude that CR7 has off the pitch. Had he been just a tad more humble, i think his perception would have been absolutely amazing.
He gets the flack because he is extremely arrogant but at the same time he has extremely little to back it up in the last 1 year. Sort of has ruined his legacy.
But undoubtedly, the best 9 ever. It is not even a question that he is the best finisher the game has ever seen.
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u/_whatevs_ Jul 19 '26
no doubt. for added context, Messi is 4 years younger, and always had an economic play style that transfer well to late career stages. Cristiano is exactly the opposite, relies a lot more on explosive physically, and made the mistake of not adapting his play style.
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u/Various_Lab_7334 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
He is now 41, wait until Messi is 41 and see. Both are Legends, who pushed the boundaries of when offensive midfielders quit football.
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Jul 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ylogssoylent Jul 19 '26
With how Messi is proving to be head and shoulders above the rest, it seems many are resorting to underrate Ronaldo. I don't like the guy, but there's a reason it was Messi vs Ronaldo for so long. He was him.
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u/Annonomon Jul 19 '26
Prime Messi Vs Prime Ronaldo was a contest. At the moment, Messi is miles ahead of him.
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u/Radiant-Cup2123 Jul 19 '26
At some point the comparison made sense. But later most of the reason was media.. tv and media got ton of revenue from making this a thing.
There are some documentaries on it.
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u/Annonomon Jul 19 '26
He's one of the best to ever play. To compete with prime Messi you have to be a generational talent.
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u/NFLBengals22 Jul 19 '26
Dude was unstoppable in his prime
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u/MrMolester Jul 19 '26
Which lasted for about 15 years
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u/artgallery69 Jul 19 '26
Lets be real, he never peformed the same after Man Utd.
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u/Figipee Jul 19 '26
Ive never been a very active football fan, but wblhat about his ucls? Didnt he win a bunch of those in RM? I guess that Juv was already the twilight years, but for RM to keep him for 9 years and having an average 81' per goal vs 170' in ManU i find it hard to agree wt you, but Im also quite young so I couldnt see him play for ManU, if he was good and RM Icant imagine it during his premier league years
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u/artgallery69 Jul 19 '26
He was great in RM but in ManU he was something else, I'd argue that in ManU he was a completely different beast.
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u/AsheDigital Jul 19 '26
Also Rooney Nani and CR. It wasn't just him, it was the combination of an amazing team that made him standout.
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u/AdventurousAd7091 Jul 19 '26
I think this last years make people forget how good CR7 was during man united, real madrid (mainly) and even juventus years.
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u/matteroffact_sp Jul 19 '26
Bro did that to himself, though.
He would go on interviews and embarrass himself in front of the world over and over again.
The worst one for me is where he said he'd want to retire on top form, playing for a top team, and would never go to play in a shitty league for money like Qatar, then goes to Saudi and says inane shit like the Saudi league is way better than the French one.
The stain on his legacy is on him, not the fans
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u/AdventurousAd7091 Jul 19 '26
Totally agree. I am not blaming anyone. Its cr7 fault that his image end up damaged in the end of his career. But i feel that a lot of people look to him now as a washed 41 years old player and forget that the messi vs cr7 duel for the goat was real and during several years there were arguments to put him in number 1. Nowadays due to recency bias probably a lot of people do not put him even in top5 all time.
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u/matteroffact_sp Jul 19 '26
He chose to have a very very long career, and also chose to turn total shit (not physically, but as far as choices, and statements), so yeah, there was a moment where the competition was real, but if anyone presented arguments to close it down, it was Cristiano
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u/SweetInspection72 Jul 21 '26
No matter what cr7 does in football even if he goes on to play 10 long years in bumfuck saudi or says other scandalous shit he is objectively in the top 2 greatest players of all time and his career in Europe will be marveled for generations to come and his legacy will be heralded as one of the Greatest of all time.
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u/matteroffact_sp Jul 21 '26
Matter of opinion. Most people who know what they're talking about and have no skin in the game, international star players, coaches, etc, will usually put Ronaldo somewhere around 4 or 5, behind Maradona and Pele. Because they understand there's a lot more to football than scoring goals.
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u/SweetInspection72 Jul 22 '26
Football is about scoring goals that's the entire point of thw game, it's not a matter opinion this guys beens doing this shit for 15 years across europe ,only being shadow by messi other than him, ronaldo doesn't have any equals.
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u/matteroffact_sp Jul 23 '26
Tell me you don't watch football without telling me you don't watch football
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u/SweetInspection72 Aug 03 '26
Lol,tell me you don't you PLAY football without telling me you don't PLAY football.
I'm telling it's better to play the medium rather than be an armchair expert on the medium
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u/matteroffact_sp Aug 03 '26
Bro if you play football then I'm called Susie.
It's better to be a player than be an armchair expert? You're neither.
The point of the game is to be a team which scores goals. Not a single player. There have been champion teams with mid strikers, there have been S tier strikers which have barely any titles.
This guy, is not even the best striker called Ronaldo. R9 was twice the player.
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u/Pitforsofts Jul 19 '26
prime Ronaldo was an absolute menace on the field and was a delight to watch. It's such a shame he was never able to build a WC winning Portugal team.
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u/InsaneMocktail Jul 19 '26
It's Messi vs Ronaldo for a reason. Prime Ronaldo was a menace for the opposition
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u/thirdeye2O20 Jul 19 '26
Frankly I dislike both of them. Just never bought into the idea that you had to like one and dislike the other. Ronaldo was really arrogant (and maybe a rapist) and Messi was a tax cheat. But the fact that they were at Real Madrid and Barcelona for so long was so cool as a football fan. Every single El Clasico was clear your schedule and get home in time to watch it because it’s Messi vs Ronaldo again and you knew something amazing was gonna happen.
I’d say it’s clear that Messi is the #1 due to his longevity, but I’m 100% sure that the world has never seen another player play at the level that Ronaldo played at when at his peak. He had almost the same ball skills as Messi while also being a total force of nature that was stronger than everyone on the pitch and also jumped higher and ran faster than everyone on the pitch.
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u/Hairy-Conference-802 Jul 19 '26
This skill of his is mesmerizing and I don’t know how the hell does he have such control over something that feels so random (maybe bc I’m watching highlights). That and pre injury Ronaldo shooting, he made those daring shot attempts that had they been made by any other players (like the one that hit the post against Ivory Coast), you would’ve questioned their decision making.
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u/will_dormer Jul 19 '26
seems like Cristiano used to be quite good footballer
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u/jdgev Jul 19 '26
"Quite good" who was the best in the world several times even over Messi lol... but sure "quite good" lmao
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u/anupvadhul Jul 19 '26
he destroyed all games when he was in ManU and RM. Total destroyer. He was at such a peak, no compitation at all. lots of love to you CR7.
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u/Louu94 Jul 19 '26
People seem to love glazing this rapist for some reason. How do you ignore that he raped multiple women just because he can kick a ball?
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u/prakhar_0522 Jul 19 '26
People treat the accusation against Cristiano Ronaldo as if it were a proven fact, when it wasn't. It was an allegation, not a conviction. Ronaldo denied it from the beginning, and prosecutors in Las Vegas declined to file criminal charges because they said there wasn't enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. That doesn't prove he was innocent, but it also doesn't prove he was guilty. A lot of people point to the $350,000 settlement as if it's definitive proof of guilt. It isn't. The settlement included a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), which is common in civil cases. People settle lawsuits for many reasons: to avoid years of litigation, legal costs, stress, and constant media attention. For someone as famous as Ronaldo, avoiding a prolonged public spectacle could be reason enough, regardless of guilt. Others claim he "admitted it," but that isn't an established fact either. Those claims come from leaked documents that Ronaldo's legal team says were obtained illegally and were altered or fabricated. Since the authenticity and reliability of those documents are disputed, they can't be treated as conclusive evidence. Imagine being accused of something you insist you didn't do while the entire world watches. Would you necessarily want to spend years fighting it in court, or would you choose to settle and move on? A settlement is not the same as an admission of guilt.
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u/Louu94 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
HE HIMSELF ADMITTED TO IT TO HIS LAWYER.
None of the stuff that was leaked was ever proven to be fake or altered. It was part of a leak of thousands of documents. None of them were ever proven to be fake or altered
Stop defending rapists
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u/g0dfather93 Jul 19 '26
Yup, people forget just how disgustingly OP CR7 was at his peak.
This is why I never get the Messi vs. C. Ronaldo debate - CR7 had the absolute highest peaks and was literally unstoppable at his best (even by Messi), whereas Messi is the absolute best overall player of his generation full stop. The man is kissing age 40 and just look at the two assists he generated in the Semis against England! And he does that almost every game.
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u/TheIronMonkey53 17d ago
I don’t watch soccer and never seen him play ….holy shit I thought this was AI
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u/CoryRich123 9d ago
I don't know been I feel like they allow him goal which we actually try copy him in real life like own game never succeed or we just bad at it... I mean for defense should block that kick of his easy...
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u/Correct-Juice-9856 3d ago
Kind of crazy to think the title would suggest it’s maybe one or two assists and goals no no it’s a full 1 min and 30 montage
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u/sdwp Jul 19 '26
When most people cant even score with a proper shoot , he score with his backheel .
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u/carverofdeath Jul 19 '26
Ronaldo is better than Messi. The only area Messi has better stats is in the WC and assists. Ronaldo did all that without having the refs and FIFA in his pocket, too, unlike Messi.
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u/Throwawaychicksbeach Jul 19 '26
Those volley heel flicks are probably the most aesthetic goal imaginable, besides a bike. Reminds me of Suarez Barcelona chip/heel ingenuity.
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u/Humble-Log-1695 Jul 19 '26
Ronaldo fans trying to get some attention after crashing out of the World Cup a long time ago. It's over guys.
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u/Professional-Mark740 Jul 19 '26
Messi overall is better but people shouldn't forget prime ronaldo was no joke either.
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u/ucandoitmann Jul 19 '26
Prime Ronaldo is the Best player of his era
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u/tickingboxes Jul 19 '26
What a wild thing to say when he played in the same era as literally the greatest player of all time.
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u/Mode_Appropriate Jul 19 '26
Did Ronaldos prime coincide with Messi's?
(I know nothing about either of them outside of these highlight clips lol)
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u/Overshot4103 Jul 19 '26
Almost every Individual trophy each of them won between 2008 - 2018 would belong to the other if one of them did not exist. They both were miles above the rest during their primes.
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u/ucandoitmann Jul 19 '26
ronaldo was always over messi when they were both in prime and i witnessed it. its wild thing to say if you're eating the narratives around
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u/Insane_Unicorn Jul 19 '26
Where's the compilation of him trying that and failing? A lot of those are completely unnecessary. Isn't he one of the players with the worst shoot to goal ratios?
And no I'm not a Messi fan or whatever I don't give fuck about football.
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u/theanhnguyenn Jul 19 '26
No need for that last sentence. Whatever you said at the beginning made it clear🤣
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u/Severe-Advantage2220 Jul 19 '26
People forget that prime messi and ronaldo were both gods and it was genuinely impossible to say who was better because they were both so far ahead of everyone.
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u/qualityvote2 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
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