Who's the better Ronaldo, Brazilian or Portuguese?

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Who's better? Use whatever your criteria for "best" is.

Click to read more...

 

[Power Man]

Brazilian Ronaldinho


Also, PES' Ronarid and Zedane awesome

English Messi Rooney is better than Welsh Pirlo Allen

 

[cgf]

Phenomeno. By a decisive margin, despite the injuries.

 

[Suiteness]

A week ago I would've told you to not insult the legend by comparing him to that club player. He's now won an international title so I can no longer call him that (unlike you know who...)

With that being said, what exactly can CR7 do on the pitch that R9 couldn't do? Stay healthy and heading the ball that's it. R9 quite simply destroys him in every single footballing ability outside of that.

 

[BSHH]

(...)
With that being said, what exactly can CR7 do on the pitch that R9 couldn't do? Stay healthy and heading the ballthat's; it. R9 quite simply destroys him in every single footballing ability outside of that.

Yet C. Ronaldo has been much more successful and obliterated Ronaldo's numbers in Primera Division. He is a more versatile player, providing much better defense. The legendary "Golden Generation" could not lead Portugal to similar success as C. Ronaldo did. Don't forget that he is also captain material. The personal accolades are very similar, although C. Ronaldo has to compete with Messi, one of the best players of all time.

Both played on stacked teams. Nevertheless, C. Ronaldo seemed even more outstanding to me, particularly in more important matches.

Gruß,
BSHH

 

[Cassano]

If Fat Ronaldo managed to stay fit and avoid those knee injuries it would be him without any hesitation. For that, I applaud CR7's dedication to staying fit and his longevity. I would say he's easily had the more successful career being RM's/Portugal's best player and all. Plus fat Ronaldo had no competition at his peak, Messi would've won awards over him. The fact that CR7 has 3 Ballon D'Or in the same era as the GOAT is something else.

This is akin to the Lindros (Fat Ronaldo) vs. Forsberg (CR7) debates on the polls sections lol.

 

[Luigi Habs]

At his very very best Ronaldo the brazilian is in the same discussion as Messi. Some may argue he was even better than Messi, especially given the era he played in with great defenders.

But Cristiano had a better overall career.

 

[Jeffrey]

Ronaldo Da lima is more of a pure talent while Cristiano Ronaldo is more dedicated.

I would always take the most talented player at their peak for one game but over a career it would go for the guy that played at the top level for a longer period.

 

[Live in the Now]

Can't believe I voted for Cristiano, but he's played at a high level for longer, kept his body in better shape, and he won more. Skill is comparable too.

 

[Luigi Habs]

Can't believe I voted for Cristiano, but he's played at a high level for longer, kept his body in better shape, and he won more. Skill is comparable too.

I don't think skill is comparable at all. Cristiano is a physical beast and he worked very hard to achieve this level wheras Ronaldo is a pure talent. Easily the best of his generation and he's very comparable skill wise to Messi. If he didn't have those injuries it wouldn't be a discussion really. We would probably be talking about top 3 of all time.

 

[Hadoop]

Chalk up another Cristiano Ronaldo vote from a Cristiano Ronaldo hater. Brazilian Ronaldo was better in his prime but he loses points from me for his lack of dedication to his craft during his post-injury years. Cristiano Ronaldo has had the better career, more individual accolades (i.e. Ballon D'Or, etc.), more club success and while he hasn't won the World Cup he has both a Euro crown and another Euro finals appearance.

 

[PeteWorrell]

Crazy that both Brazilian Ronaldos (Ronald & Ronaldinho) were pure talents that decided one day that they didn't have to train that hard anymore and declined.They both have decent careers and yet you could also ask what could have been if they stayed on form.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Can't believe I voted for Cristiano, but he's played at a high level for longer, kept his body in better shape, and he won more. Skill is comparable too.

Skill isn't comparable at all. Completely different kinds of players. Only point of comparison is their name really. One is a physical phenom who stayed healthy, the other was a slightly less physical phenom with a ton more practical ball skill and smarts but who had bad luck with injuries. Poll result is sad.

Chalk up another Cristiano Ronaldo vote from a Cristiano Ronaldo hater. Brazilian Ronaldo was better in his prime but he loses points from me for his lack of dedication to his craft during his post-injury years. Cristiano Ronaldo has had the better career, more individual accolades (i.e. Ballon D'Or, etc.), more club success and while he hasn't won the World Cup he has both a Euro crown and another Euro finals appearance.

Cristiano doesn't have more individual accolades. No idea why anyone would even bother mentioning Cristiano's international accolades in comparison to Ronaldo's, either.

Crazy that both Brazilian Ronaldos (Ronald & Ronaldinho) were pure talents that decided one day that they didn't have to train that hard anymore and declined.They both have decent careers and yet you could also ask what could have been if they stayed on form.

Lazy thinking. Ronaldo had a really bad string of injuries that slowed him down, and got fat late in his career. Not comparable to Ronaldinho. He had a far longer run at the top.

 

[les Habs]

Not sure about comparing them really. They essentially played different positions. Never a fan of either player at all, but I think the real Ronaldo would have been better were it not for the injuries. He was an insane dribbler and such a good finisher. In fact he had an amazing career despite never seeming to look the same.

A week ago I would've told you to not insult the legend by comparing him to that club player. He's now won an international title so I can no longer call him that (unlike you know who...)

With that being said, what exactly can CR7 do on the pitch that R9 couldn't do? Stay healthy and heading the ball that's it. R9 quite simply destroys him in every single footballing ability outside of that.

Well you know who is still very clearly, just as he has been for about a decade now, better than Ronaldo. In fact he just had a better tournament with his NT.

 

[Corto]

If one's not biased, or uninformed, there's no comparison.

I love Ronaldo da Lima. He was super exciting and seemed to love football for what it was.
I detest Cristiano Ronaldo. He's an egomaniac unlike anyone I've ever seen in professional spots.

But there's no comparison. Cristiano Ronaldo is by far the superior player, and really, only Messi is in his league in the last, well... A long time really.
There's a very good case for him to be all time #2 once he retires, behind Messi.

CR7 top goalscoring seasons (all competitions): 61, 60, 55, 53, 51, 51 (all Real), 42 (ManU).
Ronaldo da Lima top goalscoring seasons (all competitions): 47 (Barca), 35 (PSV), 34 (Inter), 31, 30 (Real).

CR7 top goalscoring seasons (league only): 48, 46, 40, 35, 34, 31 (Real), 31 ManU
Ronaldo da Lima top goalscoring seasons (league only): 34 (Barca), 30 (PSV), 24, 23, 21, 14 (Real)

Ronaldo da Lima is more in Zlatan's league - a fantastic player, a legend, yes... But not quite in the Messi/Ronaldo tier.

...

Yes, Ronaldo da Lima had injury and illness issues.
But even in his prime, he was nowhere as impactful as Cristiano is. Very few people in football's history were.

 

[Ajacied]

I think people have forgotten how good the Brazillian Ronaldo was. Whenever he had the ball against your favorite squad, you were on the edge of your seat, praying someone would take it from him. He was so dangerous. Never had this feeling with Christiano. In fact, in a high percentage of games he's barely noticable.

 

[Deficient Mode]

If one's not biased, or uninformed, there's no comparison.

I love Ronaldo da Lima. He was super exciting and seemed to love football for what it was.
I detest Cristiano Ronaldo. He's an egomaniac unlike anyone I've ever seen in professional spots.

But there's no comparison. Cristiano Ronaldo is by far the superior player, and really, only Messi is in his league in the last, well... A long time really.
There's a very good case for him to be all time #2 once he retires, behind Messi.

CR7 top goalscoring seasons (all competitions): 61, 60, 55, 53, 51, 51 (all Real), 42 (ManU).
Ronaldo da Lima top goalscoring seasons (all competitions): 47 (Barca), 35 (PSV), 34 (Inter), 31, 30 (Real).

CR7 top goalscoring seasons (league only): 48, 46, 40, 35, 34, 31 (Real), 31 ManU
Ronaldo da Lima top goalscoring seasons (league only): 34 (Barca), 30 (PSV), 24, 23, 21, 14 (Real)

Ronaldo da Lima is more in Zlatan's league - a fantastic player, a legend, yes... But not quite in the Messi/Ronaldo tier.

...

Yes, Ronaldo da Lima had injury and illness issues.
But even in his prime, he was nowhere as impactful as Cristiano is. Very few people in football's history were.

His non-penalty goal scoring numbers per 90 minutes were just as impressive as Cristiano's if not more so and he did a ton more to impact the game positively when he wasn't scoring. Love when people try to talk about longevity in a sport whose list of greats is dominated by players who built a reputation on one or two tournaments. I value peak far more highly - as, apparently, do most fans - and at his peak, Ronaldo de Lima had a far greater impact on a match than Cristiano. Adjusted plus/minus stats back this up as well. You may not be biased, but you're certainly uninformed if you're making your judgment based on total goal numbers accumulated without adjusting for playing time or penalties.

 

[Evilo]

Better player is easy, it's the brazilian one and that was the question of this thread.
Better career is tough because even one leg brazilian one won a WC (and was decisive al throughout) and still scored a lot.
Cristiano probably had the better career, but even that isn't obvious.

 

[Rexor]

Cristiano Ronaldo gets severly underrated because his career is overlapping with Messi. Take the latter out of the equation and he's got like 6 Ballon d'ors, a significantly better club record and goal-scoring numbers not rivaled by anyone in history.

 

[maclean]

I hate to say it but in essence this question was answered the day people started referring to Cristiano Ronaldo as just Ronaldo. To be honest for a long time I couldn't believe it. But you ask kids today and you're lucky if they even know the old Ronaldo, let alone know anything about him other than that he was some Brazilian player. Going on legacy I have to give it to CR, though personally I've never found him all that impressive.

 

[Suiteness]

Going on legacy I have to give it to CR, though personally I've never found him all that impressive.

He's a phenomenal goal scorer but as far as natural ability is concerned, he's not THAT great. He doesn't even come close to players like Baggio or Gheorghe Hagi when we're talking about talent, let's not even think about comparing him to the all-time greats.

To put it bluntly, C. Ronaldo, as far as skills is concerned, is a Ruud van Nistelrooy who can run really fast and stay healthy.

 

[Rexor]

He's a phenomenal goal scorer but as far as natural ability is concerned, he's not THAT great. He doesn't even come close to players like Baggio or Gheorghe Hagi when we're talking about talent, let's not even think about comparing him to the all-time greats.

To put it bluntly, C. Ronaldo, as far as skills is concerned, is a Ruud van Nistelrooy who can run really fast and stay healthy.

I'd say he decided to trade some skill for goals. As a teenager with the United, his technical ability was amazing and not that far from Messi imo (football IQ is a different matter of course). Later on, he added a lot of flesh which made him significantly more dangerous in and around the box but it also somewhat worsened his muscular coordination and pure ball skills.

 

[Deficient Mode]

I'd say he decided to trade some skill for goals. As a teenager with the United, his technical ability was amazing and not that far from Messi imo (football IQ is a different matter of course). Later on, he added a lot of flesh which made him significantly more dangerous in and around the box but it also somewhat worsened his muscular coordination and pure ball skills.

His technical ability was always overrated and poorly integrated into the match. His skills were mostly stepovers on the sidelines that gained him and his team no ground and actually gave the defense more time to rotate over to him. Nothing compared to Messi's dribbling and the advantage he gained from it. That's not even to mention passing, if you include that in technique (as you should). The two are worlds apart in passing.

 

[SenorDingDong]

R9 wins from a pure talent and imagination perspective. Like Ronaldinho, not many players ever come out with so much raw talent.

CR7 wins from a fitness and dedication perspective. R9 and Ronaldinho, well we know how much they liked to party. CR7 Doesn't drink at all.

 

[YNWA14]

Cristiano.

People also severely underrate his general impact on the game, and his in-game intelligence. His movement and ability to get into scoring positions is second to none.