Quote Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn View Post
Neither Ronaldo or Messi are fit to lace the boots of the genuine greats. It's only because they are playing today they are even considered. A ton of hype is loaded on them to keep the money bandwagon rolling along, and that's their real contribution. Otherwise they both play in a totally lopsided league and they probably have contract clauses that force their teammates to pass to them. Messi's a super technical player, one of the best technical players no doubt. But a "great"? With not a single decent international performance to his name? WTF? People need to get serious. And that cheating cunt Penaldo, who has disgraced the game for every moment he's played. A great? Fuck off. He wouldn't have even got into the great teams of the past. It;s almost as if nobody he seen Pele or Zico play football. Or more recently, the real Ronaldo. Or a string of other greats. Sure, if you ignore all of them Messi and Ronaldo are #1 and #2.
Definitely not old enough to have seen Pele but the real Ronaldo was a phenomenal player in his prime. Best striker I've ever seen. But his best form didn't last as long as it should/could have. The injuries really messed him up and I always thought that's the reason why he couldn't play like he used to. But it turns out he hated training. We saw him get fat. We heard at the parties. I give C. Ronaldo and Messi a lot of credit for staying at the top of their game and peak condition for over 10 years despite winning almost everything there is to win. Most players ease off the gas after a few league titles and CL titles.