I reckon the boy could have a future in the game, like that Messi fella who has also shown promise.

Not as good as proper Ronaldo but definitely the 2nd best ever.

Could've gone anywhere.

Like the sitter he missed near the end

I reckon Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are the best two players ever. They do it every single season at the highest level and the game has evolved beyond previous generations. Yeah the other Ronaldo was an unbelievable player but he didn’t produce anywhere near as consistently or for as long as these two.

I'd sooner have Andy Cook from Tranmere.

Scored a belter the other day.

I think the likes of Ronaldo, Batistuta, Nedved & Zidane were all at the top of their game when I was probably most into football so I'm always going to see them as the greatest generation.

I think for raw talent it's fat Ronaldo, for everything else it's Cristiano. I also think Maradona was better than Messi but guess that's why we have opinions.

Messi certainly doesn't have the handling skills of Maradonna.

I'm just wondering how long it will be before nobody ever saw Pele.

I suppose it depends how you define ‘better’ as well, in terms of ability I reckon Maradona, Fat Ronaldo, George Best, and plenty of others would compare but these two have avoided all the Charlie and drink and have combined a God given talent with total dedication to being the best they can possibly be for as long as they can possibly be. I think that’s why I’d say they are the best.

Good call about Pele Monty, his record is dismissed in the current comparison situation (to quote Glenn Hoddle) because he didn’t play club football in Europe. But it stands to reason that the standard in Brazil before all the players left to play in Europe was quite decent as they did win the World Cup often enough.

Fat Ronny struggled with injuries but he scored lots of goals wherever he went. Another incredibly gifted player whose career demostrates you can't just rely on talent alone and need to put in the graft is Ronaldinho. For a few years he was untouchable, had many of C Ronaldo and Messi's best attributes but clearly didn't have the commitment they have shown to be at the very top for as long as they have.

I'm not normally a fan of C Ronaldo's attitude but his moment of respect when the Juve fans applauded his goal was a nice touch and certainly differed to my opinion of him. Maybe he's grown up from his petulant, egotistical antics now.

He's the hardest working footballer out there. He comes across as arrogant on the pitch and gets pissed off when things don't go his way because he's a winner. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Off the pitch he's the model professional, does loads of charity work, doesn't drink, looks after his family etc.

Ronaldinho did what 90% of lads would do if they were that good, earn a fuckload of money, find loads of slags and get wrecked in casinos every weekend. Can't fault the lad to be fair.

He gets pissed off because he's not Messi.

I can because he deprived me of about 5 more seasons of watching him at his best, absolutely unreal skill. That said Barcelona may have delayed bringing Messi through if Ronaldinho hadn't been such a lad.

He gets pissed off because he's not Messi.

Yeah, of course he does !!!

When he first played at Manu, Ronaldo was labelled a 'one trick pony'. What the critics didn't appreciate was that it was one trick more than British players have. Like all great players Ronaldo and Messi are very comfortable when in possession unlike the England players. I suspect our coaches, coach skill with the ball out of our young pro's.

Brilliant player just unfortunate to be in the same generation as Messi

Definitely think this Ronaldo is better than the original one

I think Messi has been 90% of his motivation to make himself better. The rivalarly has spurred them both on though for the good of football.

I agree with that I don’t think anyone can actually say who is ‘better’ they are totally different players. My preference is Messi as a player to watch as he’s a pure footballer and less about athleticism but they both score an absurd amount of goals every single season but I don’t see the point in arguing who’s the best it should a case of acknowledging that we are quite fortunate to be around to have seen them both.

Current players get loads of flack sometimes rightly so but the top players are a different breed to previous generations in terms of how they look after themselves and how they dedicate themselves to being they best they can possibly be. I have recently started listening to the Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong guy Podcast and Freddie Flintoff told a story about Zlatan’s wife coming to view his house with a view to renting it while he was playing for Manchester United. She reassured them that they will look after it as they are very quiet family people who don’t drink, smoke or have parties. Which is an insight really into Zlatan who has this massively arrogant full of himself persona on the pitch but in reality he’s an extremely dedicated athlete and a fairly simple family man off it who you never see in newspapers for anything other than playing football. I suspect Ronaldo is similar.

But the fitness and athleticism now makes previous generations of football look like a different sport, and the old when I was a lad mentality is a nonsense really in all sport because like everything it evolves, it gets faster, stronger and better. The current England team would probably beat the 1966 team 10-0, Don Bradman should probably get killed if he had to face a current Test bowling attack, Roger Bannister would probably get lapped! So it’s down to preference not anything else I’m not having that the best from any previous generation would be beat the best from the current one. You get the odd freak here and there, like Mike Tyson for example but I would say this is rare.

Unfortunate for who?

IMO the 2 best players ever to have graced a football pitch by a country mile and they are here at the same time in direct opposition to each other.

It's utterly brilliant.

They both play in an awful league so their stats of a goal a game are a bit deceiving. Great, yes. Greatest, No.

And Rooney's overhead kick against Man City was better.

Spanish League might be full of lightweights, but they have also cut it in the Champions League for years.

Yeah European record of La Liga teams does little to suggest its ‘awful’ and it’s far better to watch than the Premier League. I doubt the likes of Sam Allardyce or Alan Pardew would last long in it!

It came off his shin!

Trevor Sinclair scored the best ever overhead kick.. FACT.

You're all forgetting Nialle Rodney's.

Ronaldo is good but he's no Paul Baker.

I'm a bit baffled why anybody thinks that the Premier league is more competitive or better than other leagues. Games are played at a frenetic pace which generates mistakes and excitement but in common with other top leagues the big spenders generally dominate and the others are cannon fodder.

Joe Allon, Peterborough away, 1990ish.

Kevin Henderson against York?

Henderson was better than Ronaldo but still divided the fans and ended up on the subs bench pretty regularly. That's how good pools were back then.

Fenwick scored a blinder at the weekend.

Sign him up


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By what criteria is La Liga an awful league?

Every year Spanish teams do well in Europe. How many UEFA Europe League have they won since 2000. How many champions leagues?

UEFA Europe League champions
Spanish teams 8
English teams 3

Champions league
Spanish teams 8
English teams 3

How many English footballers have succeeded in Spain?
How many Spanish in England?

Didn’t Robert Earnshaw score one at rink end for Cardiff?

Indeed he did, followed by a load of Cardiff fans running on then off the pitch, one of them running slap bang into the goal post on the way back into the stand

Is there footage of that mishap anywhere?

It's not an awful league, obviously, but the gulf between top and bottom is big, as it is in France. The Premiership and the Bundesliga are probably the only ones where half-decent strength reaches so far down the table.
Not that I'm suggesting for a minute that top English teams rule the world. They only just about rule their own stadia.

I’m trying to forget Nialle Rodney.