• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Balloon d'Or

davieb said:
He has been but still not on Messi's level imo. If Messi hadn't of been out im sure the stats would have been alot closer, maybe even better plus the fact Messi helped his team pick up a few trophies, something Ronaldo failed to do....
Click to expand...

Have to disagree, Messi has won the last couple of years purely as a popularity contest (under new system).

Ronaldo has played in two leagues, two huge clubs (both clubs under pressure from major rivals), carried the clubs, Madrid has been a mess of decisions over the last 5 years, he dragged Portugal single handedly to the WC this year, absolutely silly to say he's not in Messi's league, I accept who's better is personal choice/judgment, but they are damn close.

Messi for me is the less proven player, played for one club at it's most dominant period in it's history, with a lot of stability around him, team built around him, never proven anywhere else, hasn't really delivered huge for his country yet.

Both brilliant players, perhaps the best two players at such a high level to play at exactly the same period of time ever.
 
BeACXXqCcAAqvPZ.png
 
It would be good to see Messi prove himself in another league but how much would he cost and who could afford to buy him?
 
Jordinho said:
PSG have threatened to match his release clause, however many billion that is.
Click to expand...

PSG/City/Cheat$ki and probably a few others, especially if he got down to last 18/12 months of contract.

imo, if he wants to be there with Maradona/Pele, he needs to help Argentina win the WC, he needs to show it somewhere else club wise.
 
Raziel said:
PSG/City/Cheat$ki and probably a few others, especially if he got down to last 18/12 months of contract.

imo, if he wants to be there with Maradona/Pele, he needs to help Argentina win the WC, he needs to show it somewhere else club wise.
Click to expand...

I agree with the World Cup, but not with the club point. Pele only moved to the MLS as a swan song and no doubt a hefty pay off before retirement, yet he will forever be remembered as one of the best.

Realistically there are very few teams Messi can play for. If he was to move, the transfer would be motivated by money, which according to those who know him, is not the top of his priorities. By all reports he is a level headed person, family orientated. That said, he turned up the other night looking like a velveteen pimp
 
clownfoot said:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...mier-League-XI-in-pictures.html?frame=2791372

Alan Smith mistaking his ear hole for his other hole. Thinks Ronaldo, Xavi, Iniesta and Ribery are an inferior midfield to Ramsey, Toure, Hazard and Silva. Yet again a sky sports pundit blindly trying to promote the Premier League
Click to expand...

Stupid .. Stupid .. I truly believe the PL is a tougher competition simply because of the depth that the competition goes to in table, where most of the other leagues, the drop after 2nd/3rd is huge.

But a PL 11 vs. even a Europe 11 would be badly outclassed -> midfield and front line choices of Messi, Ronaldo, Bale, Xavi, Iniesta, Ribery, Zlatan, would it even matter who was defending?
 
Raziel said:
Have to disagree, Messi has won the last couple of years purely as a popularity contest (under new system).

Ronaldo has played in two leagues, two huge clubs (both clubs under pressure from major rivals), carried the clubs, Madrid has been a mess of decisions over the last 5 years, he dragged Portugal single handedly to the WC this year, absolutely silly to say he's not in Messi's league, I accept who's better is personal choice/judgment, but they are damn close.

Messi for me is the less proven player, played for one club at it's most dominant period in it's history, with a lot of stability around him, team built around him, never proven anywhere else, hasn't really delivered huge for his country yet.

Both brilliant players, perhaps the best two players at such a high level to play at exactly the same period of time ever.
Click to expand...

Tbf, it’s a little unfair to claim Messi won the last two awards due to it becoming more like a ‘popularity contest’, especially last year's when you consider that he broke Gerd Muller's record for most goals in a calendar season with 91 goals, a record that has stood for almost half a century.

As for playing in the Premier League is concerned, I don’t necessarily feel that would be much of a problem considering the fact that many players have made the switch (Aguero, Negredo, Navas, Silva, Michu, Cazorla, Mata, Ozil etc) and more often than not have not faced much difficulty with the transition. I mean, how much more evidence is required to prove that switching between La Liga to the Premier League is not as significant a step up as many make it out to be? If anything, each player that has arrived from Spain to the Premier League has arguably gone on to prove that they are one of the best/most influential players at their respective new clubs, what logical reasoning is there to suggest that it would be any different for Messi? He has played in the same league as all these players once before and has in the process outperformed them all (as he has with Ronaldo, although granted not to the same degree), for me that is reason enough to believe he’ll do the same in the Premier League.

All subjective at the end of the day but for me Messi is the better footballer of the two, many make the mistake (imo) of pointing out that Ronaldo is the more complete footballer but what I believe they mean to say is that Ronaldo is the more complete finisher. Messi has far more attributes to his game than Ronaldo does, you could place Messi anywhere across the front line or in any role in central midfield and you’d still have a world-class footballer on your hands, whereas Ronaldo is one-dimensional. Incredible but relatively one-dimensional. Put it this way, when both are in their thirties Messi will have far more attributes to full back on than Ronaldo does and thus will remain at a higher level for a lot longer than Ronaldo will.

All that said, Ronaldo deserved the Ballond’Or this year.
 
Last edited:
jurgen lineker said:
Tbf, it’s a little unfair to claim Messi won the last two awards due to it becoming more like a ‘popularity contest’, especially last year's when you consider that he broke Gerd Muller's record for most goals in a calendar season with 91 goals, a record that has stood for almost half a century.

As for playing in the Premier League is concerned, I don’t necessarily feel that would be much of a problem considering that fact that many players have made the switch (Aguero, Negredo, Navas, Silva, Michu, Cazorla, Mata, Ozil etc) and more often than not not faced much difficulty with the transition. I mean, how much more evidence is required to prove that switching between La Liga to the Premier League is not as significant a step up as many make it out to be? If anything, each player that has arrived from Spain to the Premier League has arguably gone on to prove that they are one of the best/most influential players at their respective new clubs, what logical reasoning is there to suggest that it would be any different for Messi? He has played in the same league as all these players once before and has in the process outperformed them all (as he has with Ronaldo, although granted not to the same degree), for me that is reason enough to believe he’ll do the same in the Premier League.

All subjective at the end of the day but for me Messi is the better footballer of the two, many make the mistake (imo) of pointing out that Ronaldo is the more complete footballer but what I believe they mean to say is that Ronaldo is the more complete finisher. Messi has far more attributes to his game than Ronaldo does, you could place Messi anywhere across the front line or in any role in central midfield and you’d still have a world-class footballer on your hands, whereas Ronaldo is one-dimensional. Incredible but relatively one-dimensional. Put it this way, when both are in their thirties Messi will have far more attributes to full back on than Ronaldo does and thus will remain at a higher level for a lot longer than Ronaldo will.

All that said, Ronaldo deserved the Ballond’Or this year.
Click to expand...

But we will never know, and that is probably the one negative that will remain against Messi (along with if Argentina fails to win anything in his career)

Re the two, I think it's very close, as I have said, I have no argument with anyone who believes Messi is better, but to deny that they are absolutely at the same level, same league is just being childish. You may value the dimensions you see Messi bring, where I may value Ronaldo's complete finisher attributes (to use your example), but it is single degrees of separation, not this bull**** that Messi fans like to play that he's "sooo much better" than Ronaldo. Honestly if anyone was soooo much better that Ronaldo, their team would never lose.
 
Lionel Messi left out of Uefa 2013 team of the year after fan vote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25749268

Uefa team of the year 2013: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Paris St-Germain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), David Alaba (Bayern Munich); Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) Mesut Ozil (Arsenal); Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St-Germain)

Interesting... both the UEFA and Ballon Dor teams are v.similar as expected, but i think i agree with the UEFA team more as i feel that Bale has to be in it for his heroics last season, and i also think alaba has been sensational and better than dani alves

*obviously, i think messi should be in the team tho.
 
jurgen lineker said:
Tbf, it’s a little unfair to claim Messi won the last two awards due to it becoming more like a ‘popularity contest’, especially last year's when you consider that he broke Gerd Muller's record for most goals in a calendar season with 91 goals, a record that has stood for almost half a century.

As for playing in the Premier League is concerned, I don’t necessarily feel that would be much of a problem considering the fact that many players have made the switch (Aguero, Negredo, Navas, Silva, Michu, Cazorla, Mata, Ozil etc) and more often than not have not faced much difficulty with the transition. I mean, how much more evidence is required to prove that switching between La Liga to the Premier League is not as significant a step up as many make it out to be? If anything, each player that has arrived from Spain to the Premier League has arguably gone on to prove that they are one of the best/most influential players at their respective new clubs, what logical reasoning is there to suggest that it would be any different for Messi? He has played in the same league as all these players once before and has in the process outperformed them all (as he has with Ronaldo, although granted not to the same degree), for me that is reason enough to believe he’ll do the same in the Premier League.

All subjective at the end of the day but for me Messi is the better footballer of the two, many make the mistake (imo) of pointing out that Ronaldo is the more complete footballer but what I believe they mean to say is that Ronaldo is the more complete finisher. Messi has far more attributes to his game than Ronaldo does, you could place Messi anywhere across the front line or in any role in central midfield and you’d still have a world-class footballer on your hands, whereas Ronaldo is one-dimensional. Incredible but relatively one-dimensional. Put it this way, when both are in their thirties Messi will have far more attributes to full back on than Ronaldo does and thus will remain at a higher level for a lot longer than Ronaldo will.

All that said, Ronaldo deserved the Ballond’Or this year.
Click to expand...
Except if you are Soldado and then it's difficult. :(

Agree totally with your post btw.
 
Neymar said:
Lionel Messi left out of Uefa 2013 team of the year after fan vote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25749268

Uefa team of the year 2013: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Paris St-Germain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), David Alaba (Bayern Munich); Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) Mesut Ozil (Arsenal); Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St-Germain)

Interesting... both the UEFA and Ballon Dor teams are v.similar as expected, but i think i agree with the UEFA team more as i feel that Bale has to be in it for his heroics last season, and i also think alaba has been sensational and better than dani alves

*obviously, i think messi should be in the team tho.
Click to expand...

It's Ramos' inclusion that always surprises me. I just can't see it with him. Spanish Charlie Adams.
 
yh ramos does seem suspect at times doesnt he. makes a number of rash decisions especially considering he is playing for a team top that arent put under much pressure. would be interesting to see how he would do/adapt if he were to play for a lesser team.
 
jurgen lineker said:
Tbf, it’s a little unfair to claim Messi won the last two awards due to it becoming more like a ‘popularity contest’, especially last year's when you consider that he broke Gerd Muller's record for most goals in a calendar season with 91 goals, a record that has stood for almost half a century.

As for playing in the Premier League is concerned, I don’t necessarily feel that would be much of a problem considering the fact that many players have made the switch (Aguero, Negredo, Navas, Silva, Michu, Cazorla, Mata, Ozil etc) and more often than not have not faced much difficulty with the transition. I mean, how much more evidence is required to prove that switching between La Liga to the Premier League is not as significant a step up as many make it out to be? If anything, each player that has arrived from Spain to the Premier League has arguably gone on to prove that they are one of the best/most influential players at their respective new clubs, what logical reasoning is there to suggest that it would be any different for Messi? He has played in the same league as all these players once before and has in the process outperformed them all (as he has with Ronaldo, although granted not to the same degree), for me that is reason enough to believe he’ll do the same in the Premier League.

All subjective at the end of the day but for me Messi is the better footballer of the two, many make the mistake (imo) of pointing out that Ronaldo is the more complete footballer but what I believe they mean to say is that Ronaldo is the more complete finisher. Messi has far more attributes to his game than Ronaldo does, you could place Messi anywhere across the front line or in any role in central midfield and you’d still have a world-class footballer on your hands, whereas Ronaldo is one-dimensional. Incredible but relatively one-dimensional. Put it this way, when both are in their thirties Messi will have far more attributes to full back on than Ronaldo does and thus will remain at a higher level for a lot longer than Ronaldo will.

All that said, Ronaldo deserved the Ballond’Or this year.
Click to expand...

Bang on!

Re the different league argument, Maradona never came and played in England against the "great" Liverpool teams of the 80s, does that mean he wasnt the greatest at the time? Same with Zidane/Real Ronaldo/Ronaldinho...

As a competitive league the Premier League is by far the best, however, lets not kid ourselves, I think there is far more quality in the Spanish league than its given credit for. Bilbao (supposedly a weak team at the time), beat United on their patch when they were defending PL champions..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back