Village Idiot

Rivaldo is one of the most brilliant players I have ever seen in a Barça shirt, I think he is highly rated amongst us and the hattrick against Valencia probably one of the finest single moments for a Barça player. That last bicycle kick goal put us in the CL in a very bad season. The way he left probably let a bit of a sour taste, but it wasn't as much his fault as the board's or Van Gaal. I always rated him higher than Ronaldinho, for example. He was a much clever player on the pitch, and not really less gifted. I think the lack of continental silverware is what holds him back from being recognized as one of the greats of the last 10-20 years.

Ruud Gullit, the most stirling example of how a world class player can be a shitbag manager. They "love" him in Los Angeles, too.

I rate the one against Valencia (the hat-trick game) just as good as he was playing against better opposition. I say one but he scored two peaches in that game. Or the one against Deportivo when he was on the floor and got up and nicked the ball away from the defender. Bobby Robson's reaction to that Compostela goal was brilliant like. On retrospective we kinda came out fine. But for long time I thought that losing Ronaldo would have been one of the biggest turning points in our recent history. The things we could have done with a Ronaldo in his prime and the squad we had in the mid-late 1990s (Figo, Rivaldo, Luís Enrique... might not have signed Rivaldo with Ronaldo on the team though), not sure who could have stopped us.

40‽‽‽ This is ridiculous Tbf though, I can't blame anyone for being fooled by my wise words. Well, we were talking the other day about the Nigeria-Spain game in 1998, and I thought you would be of at least my age to remember that... so you were like 8? Mind, I have fresh memories of some games from when I was that age too! (the European Cup final against Steaua )

I thought Baba was 40 at least

Just go and look for the goal he scored for Barcelona against Compostela. One of the best ones I have ever seen scored by a Barça shirt. He just makes the whole thing by himself.

I'd say 1996-1999. Even though he was obviously brilliant in the 2002 World Cup he wasn't the same player as 3 years before. I agree with that. He was never as mobile and dynamic after his knee troubles.

After almost two years of crippling knee problems, Gabi Milito has today been released by the doctors and given the permission to train normally I hope he can get his career back on track, even if it's not with us.

Well, unless it happens to be France, it's not the 9th seeded team's fault (which would lose his seed) that Ireland got cheated on.

Chelsea will want another European Cup for them, too!

Where does the hype come from, though? Has he impressed in the reserves or youth teams? Honest question since I really don't know his trajectory. The two times I have seen him play he looked pretty confident and assured on the pitch, which is a big deal for a player his age, but he was a bit ineffectual (although both games were pretty scrappy so I can't really judge)

Give it time. When they win the CL, it'll be f***ing horrific. Honest question, are Barça fans as obnoxious? I can totally understand that we might be. People of my age grew up when Barça won the league once a decade, but the young'uns are pretty spoiled. I know I know, but for the supposed #2 team in the country that was rather poor! I understand it as a Yankee fan. God, I wish I cared enough about baseball just to be a Yankee fan.

Give it time. When they win the CL, it'll be f***ing horrific. Honest question, are Barça fans as obnoxious? I can totally understand that we might be. People of my age grew up when Barça won the league once a decade, but the young'uns are pretty spoiled. I know I know, but for the supposed #2 team in the country that was rather poor! We won the league twice from 1961-1989, and then 9 times from 1990-2009. Our upturn on fortunes is relatively recent. (we were pretty successful in the 1950s and before, though).

I just went to Marco Van Basten's own website to see if there were some public available videos to showcase how damn good he was, and found out that all the videos he hosted are from youtube and have already been taken down, one of them by Ajax of all people

Yeah remember him winning Champion's League with Madrid a couple of times once and also Euro 2000 with France...he also had 2 exceptional world cups...98 and 2006. Ronaldo? FYP That totals about 20 games, i'm convinced. Seriously though, each to their own. But goals win games and for almost 10 years Ronaldo was the best in the world at doing that. I'll be honest with you,I'd put Romario on a par with Ronaldo at the very least. Romario was more gifted than Ronaldo, but his work ethic let him down. And that's part of being a successful player too. Aye, Bobby's autobiography says that one best. He struggled to get Romario onto the training pitch and couldn't get Ronaldo off it. Mint quote. Sums it up perfectly. I still think he was never as good as he was before he did his knees.

Give it time. When they win the CL, it'll be f***ing horrific. Honest question, are Barça fans as obnoxious? I can totally understand that we might be. People of my age grew up when Barça won the league once a decade, but the young'uns are pretty spoiled.

Strangely, I have yet to meet a Chelsea fan. However, I seem to meet Liverpool and ManU "fans" almost daily, and god do they make sure I know how good they are and how magnificient and storied their clubs are. I don't think there are that many Chelsea gloryhunters as one would believe, at least overseas.

Yeah remember him winning Champion's League with Madrid a couple of times once and also Euro 2000 with France...he also had 2 exceptional world cups...98 and 2006. Ronaldo? FYP That totals about 20 games, i'm convinced. Seriously though, each to their own. But goals win games and for almost 10 years Ronaldo was the best in the world at doing that. I'll be honest with you,I'd put Romario on a par with Ronaldo at the very least. Romario was more gifted than Ronaldo, but his work ethic let him down. And that's part of being a successful player too.

Why? Chelsea have an early expiry date though.

Iniesta saying on TV that "Cristiano Ronaldo is not the most adequate person to tell me if I'm diving or not", after the Real Madrid player admonished him on the pitch

Until you mentioned Enzo Francescoli,i was with you. I know I know... my love for Francescoli is not usually understood... but I just loved how he would never look at his friggin' feet. Just get the ball, keep running at the same speed as if nothing had happened, and then pick up a great pass. I think he was amazing. He brought such flow to the game. The things Van Basten could do with a football, though, never seen a centreforward which so much technique (and also as deadly). Ibrahimovic reminds me of him in a way. And the bastard seemed to score an overhead kick every other week.

The problem Pellegrini has is all the player, media and board politics he has to wrestle with at Real, which is the cancer of that team and the reason they eat through managers like I do with pies. The manager at Madrid just doesn't have full control of selections and signings, and he has to play ball. For example, Raúl has to play. By divine right. Every time Raúl doesn't start, all the media in Madrid put it in front page. Pellegrini is wrestling with that giving him starts in easy games to keep him and his posse happy, and benching him at real games like today's. Higuaín is so much better than him it's ridiculous, yet Higuaín still isn't an automatic starter. Also, Cronaldo has to be central. The reason is that he has to be Real's top goalscorer, even if playing him at the middle starts a merry-go-round that ends up in playing Kaká, Benzema, Higuaín... out of position (and Cronaldo is a great central forward, mind) The style of play is another thing Pellegrini gets *a lot* of flak for. The Madrid press wants Real to play better than Barça does and slag Pellegrini immensely for not doing it. However, they just can't play possession football, they don't have the players for it. Kaká, Benzema, Cronaldo... are another kind of footballer. More direct. They did well today doing what Madrid can do best at the moment: forcing the opposition to lose the ball in midfield and hit with fast counters.

I'm a semi-old fart! Saw all those in the 80s... Francescoli is probably an underrated genius, he never playerd in a big European club apart from one season at Marseille, which I guess is why he doesn't make many people's lists (he was the one pulling the strings on that Uruguay side that piped Brazil and Argentina to the America Cup several times in the 80s, and got into several WCs). Van Basten was one of the most complete strikers I have ever seen, made his chances and took the others like nobody else. Pity he was so fragile... and Sócrates is one of the best midfielders I have ever seen. Anyway. Just one question. What time do you consider Ronaldo's prime? I consider the season he spent with us the best one he ever had. (I know he was good at PSV but I don't take the Dutch league much seriously anymore). When he was at Real he still was one of the best finishers out there, but he had lost that mobility an edge he had before.

Duh. Zidane, Maradona, Sócrates, Van Basten, Zico, Francescoli... players that I think were better at their prime than Ronaldo. But comparing players of different positions is tricky. Ronaldo has a case for better striker I have seen in my lifetime. I love Van Basten though.

Hilarious. Ronaldo is the better striker and the best player i've ever seen. Best goalscorer, yes. Best striker, maybe (others had more to their game, but I think I'd still have him in my lifetime starting XI). Best player absolutely not.