Are Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo now the two greatest ever footballers?

[ShiroKhorshid]

Guys keep in mind that in those days football was totaly different as there were teams that got hammered by 10 goals for example. Just like Asia was different 2 deacades ago. We used to best Maldives 17:1, nowadays Maldives C team wouldnt concede 17 goals against Argentinas A team.
Another good comparison. Look how many matches Both Messi & Cristiano needed to become the all time highest goal scorers and compare it to Raul who hold the record for years. Its such a difference its not even funny.

[rugs]

Guys keep in mind that in those days football was totaly different as there were teams that got hammered by 10 goals for example. Just like Asia was different 2 deacades ago. We used to best Maldives 17:1, nowadays Maldives C team wouldnt concede 17 goals against Argentinas A team.
Another good comparison. Look how many matches Both Messi & Cristiano needed to become the all time highest goal scorers and compare it to Raul who hold the record for years. Its such a difference its not even funny.

I don't know. San Marino constantly looses by 7-8 goals in WC and Euro qualifications.

Malta and other small countries lose by a lot too.

Both Messi and Ronaldo have constantly been surrounded by amazing players at their clubs but have failed for their nations. How much do their surrounding players affect their play?

But players like Zidane, Pele, Puskas, Maradona, etc... carried their teams, even when they weren't stacked with great players.

They still have time to do that, but for now I think it's too early to consider them anything other than David Beckhams or Marco van Bastens or Ronaldinhos of their time.

[Camran khan]

Lol Pele played football without offside, of course he would score a lot more, plus he played in the brazilian league.

Ronaldo and Messi in the last few years have both managed to keep their goal scoring rate above 1 goal/game. I would say they probably are the best. I haven't seen Maradona Beckenbauer, Pele, Puskas, Eusebio etc play except for some highlights on youtube, but football is definitely a lot harder today than it was back then. I would say chances are that they are the best ever, but kind of hard to say. People tend to hype these old players (mostly the people who haven't even seen them play). They make strikers like Suarez, Aguero, Benzema, etc, whom are all world class strikers, yet who don't score more than 1 goal/game look bad. That alone says a lot.

[hzv]

no way zidan is top 3. how is zidan better than ronaldhino or rivaldo? and that is just from his own era...no way. it is very hard to even make a top 10 because a lot of it is personal taste as well for me romario is defenately in top 5 but many dont even mention him. the guy made it look too easy.

[KC McElroy]

Lol Pele played football without offside, of course he would score a lot more, plus he played in the brazilian league.

Where on earth are you coming up with that from?????

[Camran khan]

Where on earth are you coming up with that from?????

lol my bad, dont ask why, but I mixed it up. Offside was lastly changed in 1990, there was offside before that, just didnt work in the exact same way. But he did score a lot of goals in unofficial games though, didnt he?

[KC McElroy]

lol my bad, dont ask why, but I mixed it up. Offside was lastly changed in 1990, there was offside before that, just didnt work in the exact same way. But he did score a lot of goals in unofficial games though, didnt he?

They changed offside in 1990 favoring the attacking player if he was even while during Pele's time he would be offside if he was even. So in fact in regards to the offside rule it was harder to score during Pele's time.
I'm not sure about his official and unofficial games but I trust what Rugs has posted about it is correct.

[Camran khan]

They changed offside in 1990 favoring the attacking player if he was even while during Pele's time he would be offside if he was even. So in fact in regards to the offside rule it was harder to score during Pele's time.
I'm not sure about his official and unofficial games but I trust what Rugs has posted about it is correct.

ah ok thanks. Yeah I think those stats are correct too, I was referring to the 1200 something supposedly goals that he scored.

[EKBATAN]

no they're not simply because everything is relative and times have evolved so naturally players have to be better than the past. even the average footballer is probably greater player than someone 20-30+ years ago. just the fitness level and pace of the game, and how the game play and tactics, etc...and the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE is the BALL WAS HEAVIER which changes EVERYTHING! i'd like to see ronaldo and messi do half the stuff they do now with the previous heavy ones. today's ball is so light many regular people or semi pros can bend it if they hit is right and with enough power.

[K. Nader]

These two players aside, football just isn't what it used to be. Maybe it's just me but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the previous generation (Zidane, Davids, Figo, Raul, Totti, Maldini, Seedorf, Batistuta, etc.) a lot more than the current one. I also miss Serie A of the 1990s and early 2000s. Good times...

[ShiroKhorshid]

Soo true. In the 90s and early 2000s Serie A was definately the best league in the world. So many great teams and players, i could add probably another 30 amazing players from Serie A that time.

[ShiroKhorshid]

[Masoud_A]

These guys have their teams tailor-made to suit them from top to bottom, they got players surrounding them who bid as they command so of course they are gonna score a huge amount of their respective teams' goals. Di Maria had like 25 assists in a season IIRC and he was not even the main distributor of the ball. People talk about how football has evolved and level of competition has risen, well I don't see that in la liga and with Dortmund fucked up I don't see that in Bundesliga either. All I see is a bunch of hungry lions tearing sheep apart with a few of them having one or two shepherd dogs.
Now let's see what these all-timer did with a less tailored team i.e. their national teams, I guess Messi scored a few goals in the last WC and stole somebody else's award?

[PSGman#19]

Yes they are. Football is definitely tougher (less time, less space, less physical etc...) now than at Pele, Maradona, Beckbauer time

[KC McElroy]

It's delusional to think Messi and Ronaldo are even in the top 10 in terms of all time greatest players.
I'm sure very few can even name a player from the 30s, 40s or 50s.