I've loved watching a lot of footballers over the years, but Ronaldo is always my one true love. His time at PSV, Barca and Inter (before it all went wrong) stands next to any footballer, ever. (I say that having started watching football when Maradona was a fat man waddling in a WC qualifier )
Messi has done it for longer, and I have some completely irrational disregard for Cristiano Ronaldo's achievements. I can't explain it. But the rest can go whistle after those three (again - since the nineties)
I used to be firmly in the Messi camp, but I've swung completely the opposite way to CRonaldo in the past few years. To do what he does, at his age, in his position is unmatched. His CL goals record is absolutely insane. How he dragged Portugal to success in the Euros, he's pretty much carried his nation on his back whereas Messi always seems to cut a frustrated figure and can't seem to replicate what he does for Barca on the international stage. Certainly in purely measurable terms, on paper he's going to go down alongside Pele with the crazy goals per game. And, he's done it at 2 of the biggest clubs in the world.
I loved the anecdote, can't recall from which Man Utd player, that he would stay late from training sessions and practice step-overs for an hour with heavy sandbags on each of his feet so he could do them much faster in a game. To do that, at 18 or 19 years old in a foreign country with the rest of the senior squad, people like Roy Keane, ripping the absolute piss out of him - absurd dedication today, let alone 15 years ago.
It'll be interesting to see how he adopts to the rigidity of Juve over time as he's never had to play in a team like that before.
Don't get me wrong, Messi is arguably the most gifted player of all time, but CRonaldo, like the best players in the world before him, seems to be easily adapting his game to his age and still doing the business year in, year out.
Oh and to compare Shearer and Ronaldo is laughable. Shearer would be lucky to be in my top 10 of all time, let alone first (/tinhat).
They won without him in the Euros and I would argue that they wouldn’t have won with him. They needed 11 men totally committed to defending that night
