Everything about Ronaldo and Messi sets the perfect stage for their perceived rivalry. Ronaldo is a brash and exuberant performer who is powerfully built and has a massive ego. Messi is a shy and a humble person who is shorter and has a more compact physique. On the field, Ronaldo and Messi spearhead the long-standing rivalry for Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, and individual football records continually get broken as both consistently leap-frog each other.
Hell, their rivalry even persists off the field. Ronaldo is the global face of Nike and is the third highest paid athlete in the world. Messi is the global face of Nike’s biggest competitor, Adidas, and is fourth on the highest paid list.
Without a doubt, this is one of the all time great rivalries. But in an attempt to present a conclusive answer to who is better than who, here are five reasons why Ronaldo is better than Messi.
5. He Is a Very Charitable Guy
It feels nearly wrong to match who is best at being an altruist and an all around nice guy because both Ronaldo and Messi are implausibly charitable folks.
With the media perpetually centered on his personal life, individuals usually forget what Ronaldo has done for the less lucky over the lase decade or so. After the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004, he flew over to Indonesia to help raise cash and help the country reconstruct. In 2012, Ronaldo was made aware to a seriously sick 9-year-old kid and without hesitation, he save the child's life by paying the pioneering medical aid.
In the past, several times people have often approached him for help and without any hesitation he had helped them. Once a woman approached him to sign a jersey for her sick child so that she could raise funds by auctioning it. Ronaldo later helped her by paying all the medical expenses.
4. He Is More Yielding Scorer
When it involves goals, Ronaldo and Messi have created enough moments of soccer magic to last several lifetimes. But once it comes to numbers and statistics, Ronaldo is quantitatively higher than Messi.
Including his international and club numbers, Ronaldo has scored a impressive 499 goals from 752 apps. By comparison, Messi has scored “only” 467 goals from 597 apps. Ronaldo’s superior scoring ability is mirrored by the various goal records he holds like being the first player to achieve forty goals in an exceedingly skilled league for 2 consecutive seasons, the sole player to get sixty or a lot of goals in an year four times, and therefore the only player to score more than fifty goals in 5 totally different seasons.
Just as a cherry on top, Ronaldo holds the unique record for being the first player to score in every minute of a game.
3. He's won Won The European Golden Shoe Award 4 Times
The European Golden Shoe is awarded to the leading goal-scorer across the top division of every European league. After a couple of gushing entries over Ronaldo’s scoring ability, you’d be correct in thinking that Ronaldo has a few of these trophies tucked away somewhere.
Four European Golden Shoe trophies to be exact.
This makes Ronaldo the first (and only player so far) to win this Golden Shoe award four times. Crucially, for the sake of this list, Ronaldo’s four trophies puts him ahead of Messi by one. What makes this achievement even more impressive is that Ronaldo has managed to win the Golden Shoe award in both the English Premier League and La Liga whilst Messi’s wins have all come from La Liga only.
On the topic of Ronaldo’s competitiveness in different leagues…
2. He's Is Less Injury Prone
All things considered, injuries are to be expected when you play a sport that requires insane levels of fitness and features continuous stop-start running for an hour and a half to two hours. For all his talent and natural ability, Messi has had his share of injuries. In contrast, Ronaldo has been pretty good in the injury department.
Whilst Messi has been forced to miss months of play due to injury, Ronaldo has generally managed to play through most football seasons, save for a few little niggles here and there. Thanks to an awesome team of physios and nutritionists, Ronaldo has managed to keep himself healthier than Messi, despite Messi being a few years younger. In fact, when Ronaldo won the 2013 Ballon d’Or Trophy, he bought each of his Real Madrid trainers a car as a sign of gratitude for keeping him in top shape.
In a final ironic twist of fate, Messi suffered a knee injury very recently whilst Ronaldo was given a ‘Healthiest Player Award’. Maybe Ronaldo could recommend a physio or two to Messi.
1. He's Greatest Footballer Ever In his Country
Make no mistake, Messi is one of the greatest football players to ever grace the field. But due to his physique, playing style, and nationality, Messi will forever be playing underneath the shadow of other great Argentinian players such as Daniel Passarella, Gabriel Batistuta, and Diego Maradona. Until Messi can bring home a World Cup title, he’ll always have the burden of an entire country on his shoulders.
Portugal doesn’t have anywhere near the depth of football skill that Argentina does. As such, Ronaldo is spared from any comparisons from previous Portuguese football greats because he’s already proven himself to be his country’s greatest football player ever. Whilst Argentinians debate over Messi and Maradona, the Portuguese Football Federation has named Ronaldo as their country’s best ever player.
With no past glories hanging over him, Ronaldo is able to play with the knowledge that he can only keep adding to his legacy.
Thanks! Do share it.
ReplyDelete