GWT: Champions League Final: Real Madrid/Juventus

[WhiskeySeven*]

I think the three has to do with him being a top3 midfielder in the world. Not sure though.

1x World Cup winner,
3x UEFA Champion's League winner,
3x Bundesliga winner,
1x La Liga winner,
3x DFB pokal winner,
3x FIFA club world cup winner,
2x UEFA super cup winner,
2x German super cup winner

And he's only 27

 

[Power Man]

And he has, great hair

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Hats off to Real and Ronaldo. They made the adjustments and turned it on. Ill take the silver lining here, since barely any serie a team is in CL so that means we are gonna get serious bank like we did two years ago. We signed Higuain with CL money now lets bring in Alexis and another stud.

 

[Bures Elbow]

UCL Ronaldo is just a glorified World Cup Miroslav Klose. Sure, they're good in their own right, but really, it's the team around them that matters. They even both have a signature celebration.

You cant be serious?

 

[Cassano]

Hats off to Real and Ronaldo. They made the adjustments and turned it on. Ill take the silver lining here, since barely any serie a team is in CL so that means we are gonna get serious bank like we did two years ago. We signed Higuain with CL money now lets bring in Alexis and another stud.

Going to need to persuade Alexis from joining his buddy (who also snubbed Juve) at Bayern.

And playing with Higgers instead of Lewa lol.

 

[njdevil26]

 

[YNWA14]

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2470835.html

Pretty impressive. Ronaldo's track record speaks for itself. Top scorer and 2nd most assists this year. Top scorer for 5 years in a row, 6 times total, and has the most all-time goals in the CL.

I don't think he's a better player than Messi overall, but more effective? It's possible. I've never really been in that camp but just when it looked like Ronaldo was on the decline he's really reinvented himself and taken that game to a new level.

 

[les Habs]

People really need to start considering context. Go and look at how many more CL matches Ronaldo has had on top of the roles they play.

 

[bluesfan94]

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2470835.html

Pretty impressive. Ronaldo's track record speaks for itself. Top scorer and 2nd most assists this year. Top scorer for 5 years in a row, 6 times total, and has the most all-time goals in the CL.

I don't think he's a better player than Messi overall, but more effective? It's possible. I've never really been in that camp but just when it looked like Ronaldo was on the decline he's really reinvented himself and taken that game to a new level.

He's a Bill Gates' Miroslav Klose at this point in time.

Fight me everybody.

 

[YNWA14]

People really need to start considering context. Go and look at how many more CL matches Ronaldo has had on top of the roles they play.

Well some context was added for the number of goals he's scored past the group stage versus Messi also.

The last 5 years versus Messi don't seem to be out of context either. This season especially Ronaldo had more impact in the CL by a fairly wide margin.

 

[les Habs]

Well some context was added for the number of goals he's scored past the group stage versus Messi also.

The last 5 years versus Messi don't seem to be out of context either. This season especially Ronaldo had more impact in the CL by a fairly wide margin.

Again, context. Look at the number of matches and consider their roles.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Messi isn't an out-and-out striker compared to Ronaldo now. It's not just about goal tallies.

Ronaldo's playing like one of the best strikers in the world though - is he better or Suarez or Lewy?

 

[The Abusement Park]

Messi isn't an out-and-out striker compared to Ronaldo now. It's not just about goal tallies.

Ronaldo's playing like one of the best strikers in the world though - is he better or Suarez or Lewy?

He's pretty clearly better then Lewa or Suarez. His role is to score goals and he does it better than anyone bar Messi maybe.

 

[Deficient Mode]

He's pretty clearly better then Lewa or Suarez. His role is to score goals and he does it better than anyone bar Messi maybe.

Lewandowski scored at a slightly higher rater per 90 minutes than Cristiano in both the CL and in their respective domestic competitions, while pretty clearly adding more value when he wasn't in a scoring position. I don't think he's the second best player in the world either, though.

 

[Power Man]

Modric has revealed that head coach Zidane had encouraged his players to use quick passing down the flanks and deliveries on the ground in order to make life as difficult as possible for the Juve back three of Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.

"Zidane and his staff detected Juventus' defensive weakness, so throughout the week, in preparation for the final, we practiced return passes," Modric told HTV and Sportske Novosti.

"Juventus' defence is great when it comes to crosses, but not so on low return passes. That is what we worked on and that is how we scored three of our goals in the final. Congratulations to the coach for that detail, which was the key in the final."

 

[Corto]

Lewandowski scored at a slightly higher rater per 90 minutes than Cristiano in both the CL and in their respective domestic competitions, while pretty clearly adding more value when he wasn't in a scoring position. I don't think he's the second best player in the world either, though.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves here...
Ronaldo's not the player he was a few years ago, but he's still on another level compared to other forwards and strikers not named Lionel.

There's a lot of context to Ronaldo's numbers this season...
He was slow at the start, coming off the injury, and missed a lot of "easy" games due to Zidane rotations and how the "B" team handled those matches.
His numbers suffered, but when push came to shove, he was fantastic - possibly the most clutch he's ever been.
In an interview the other day, both he and Zidane said he knowingly sacrificed numbers in order to make sure he reaches the end of the season in better shape.

Whether Cristiano is #2 in the world right now... I don't know. Probably still yes, his run down the stretch was historic.
But if someone said it's Modric or Marcelo, etc., hard to argue with that either.

It's actually sort of funny. I don't think Messi's ever been so clearly better in terms of play compared to Ronaldo as this season.
But somehow, Cristiano's ridiculous run down the stretch and winning everything, keeps him up there.
If you watch the games, it's quite clear Messi's better. At this point, for sure, even if you could talk about it 3-4 years ago when Ronaldo was still a beast on any part of the pitch.
But when it comes to efficiency, especially when you take into account that Ronaldo's numbers have suffered this season simply because he missed 9 of the "easier" games... He's still impressive, AND he had a historic stretch run, unlike anything in recent memory.
For a "non big game player" he's scored more than double the goals of any player in history in quarter finals, semis and finals of the CL.
He's been the CL best scorer 5 years running. He has the most assists in CL history.

Comparing Lewa etc. to him isn't the way to go, IMO, even with this current, re-invented, more team-dependent form of Ronaldo.

Like Kevin Prince Boateng said, comparisons of most players to Ronaldo are pointless, Cristiano is the king.
His only problem being, Messi is God.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves here...
Ronaldo's not the player he was a few years ago, but he's still on another level compared to other forwards and strikers not named Lionel.

Nah

His numbers suffered, but when push came to shove, he was fantastic - possibly the most clutch he's ever been.

That wouldn't be much of an accomplishment at all, considering that he wasn't clutch at all before. Definitely a huge swing this year though.

For a "non big game player" he's scored more than double the goals of any player in history in quarter finals, semis and finals of the CL.
He's been the CL best scorer 5 years running. He has the most assists in CL history.

How many more matches has he played than the others? And how many of those goals came against Galatasaray, APOEL, Wolfsburg, and co?

Comparing Lewa etc. to him isn't the way to go, IMO, even with this current, re-invented, more team-dependent form of Ronaldo.

Just facts. Lewandowski scored at a marginally higher rate in both competitions and is far better without the ball. If you adjust for quality of competition against which he scored that's ok, but Cristiano doesn't come off well in those adjustments in past years. Certainly an impressive batch of goals from him in the last three rounds, and I would normally applaud a player overcoming a choker label, which I myself have given him in the past. However, he has been horribly overrated his entire career and his fans are insufferable.

 

[Evilo]

You can argue the same with Cavani and I wouldn't say Cavani's better than Ronaldo.

 

[Deficient Mode]

You can argue the same with Cavani and I wouldn't say Cavani's better than Ronaldo.

Was he better this year though?

 

[Evilo]

As much as I think Cavani had an amazing year and brings much more than goals to a team (and he brought more goals than Ronaldo this season), Ronaldo came up big when it mattered.

 

[Corto]

How many more matches has he played than the others? And how many of those goals came against Galatasaray, APOEL, Wolfsburg, and co?


Just facts. Lewandowski scored at a marginally higher rate in both competitions and is far better without the ball. If you adjust for quality of competition against which he scored that's ok, but Cristiano doesn't come off well in those adjustments in past years. Certainly an impressive batch of goals from him in the last three rounds, and I would normally applaud a player overcoming a choker label, which I myself have given him in the past. However, he has been horribly overrated his entire career and his fans are insufferable.

This season, Ronaldo had 2 goals in the group phase. Then he scored 10 vs Bayern, Atleti and Juventus.
I mean, 5 vs Simeone's Atletico and a Juve side who shut out Barca over 2 legs.

I'd say his 16 goals in the last 10 games to decide La Liga and the CL are just as impressive as the seasons where he kept scoring and scoring 55+, 60+ goals... But ultimately looked mortal at the end of the season.

Like I said, he was coming off an injury and had a slow start, CL included.
He sat a lot of Real's games vs weaker opposition, where they were scoring 6 and 5 and 4 goals etc.
Surely, in years prior, he'd have been playing those games, scoring 10-15 goals in those 9 games (as he used too) - but ultimately looked spent near the end of the season.

If anything, in terms of growing up and being a leader and a guy who comes through in the clutch - this was Ronaldo's best season.

Sure, he didn't pour on 60 goals beating on the Granadas and the Eibars as he did before, but I'd say that was off the cards as soon as he accepted the rotations Zidane planned out.

He's a different player than he was 3-4 years ago... But just as effiecient.
Again, the finish of the season was where it was all decided and he came through - one of the most legendary string of games you'll ever see from anyone.

No disrespect to Cavani or Lewa, who both had phenomenal years...
But they weren't on Ronaldo's level.

 

[Suiteness]

I mean Jesus, there's clutch and there's that.

I am the only one who thinks Zidane should just walk away from Madrid now? I mean really, there's nowhere to go but down at this point. Obviously not going to happen but I think that's what he should do.

He should take over an average team in France like Bordeaux and start to build something else.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Spanish Cup Final means absolutely nothing. It's a pretty much strech for me because even Modric from our team is better playmaker than Messi. I don't have problem with Messi's trophies or if someone think he is better than Ronaldo. As i said i think Messi and Ronaldo are even as a players, but i think Ronald does much better in higher stages. I just can't agree with the hate Ronaldo gets from everyone. Because there's no ****ing reason to hate him.

It's a total false statement to say Messi dragged his team to World Cup Final. He was pretty decent, but how much he scored after the group stage? 0 goals. Other players, especially their defense were big factor to bringing team to the final.

Of course everything from Ronaldo isn't impressive for you statements like this are ridiculous You know what man? It's skill to get in those positions, there is world's best defenders trying to shut him down and he scored 10 goals. You can call him passenger or whatever you want, but it doesn't change the fact that he has beated legends like Pele and Maradona pretty clearly.

God, do I hate to talk like this because everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I can categorically say that by your POV you have never played soccer in a competitive level, because if you did you would know that Messi is three steps above ANY other player in the world, in both goalscoring and playmaking, as well as soccer IQ.


As for Kroos talk... He's becoming overrated IMO, and Modric is twice the player he is. I'd go as far as to say Modric is the most important player in Madrid AINEC.
I take Verratti over Kroos too.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

As for the result of the game, Madrid deserved to win, and that's a shame
Don't know what happened with Juve on the 2nd half.

 

[bluesfan94]

I mean Jesus, there's clutch and there's that.

I am the only one who thinks Zidane should just walk away from Madrid now? I mean really, there's nowhere to go but down at this point. Obviously not going to happen but I think that's what he should do.

He should take over an average team in France like Bordeaux and start to build something else.

Wait what? Casemiro scored