Quote Originally Posted by mastermind84 View Post
in fairness to Ronaldo, the numbers Cronaldo and Messi and many others are inflated. The defensive talent during Ronaldo's time trumps what we see today. If you put Ronaldo '95-96 in today's football world, he would have numbers as good if not better than Messi.
They're 'inflated' because they rarely get injured and thus they're able to do it game-after-game, if L. Ronaldo wasn't unfortunate in that sense then yes he might well have but for various reasons that was not possible. The dedication to being able to stay fit is another part of Messi/Ronaldo's legacy (and PnG, I don't think I am being premature in that even if they were both struck down today). You mention 95-96, well L. Ronaldo was at PSV then - I don't really think it's going to be a fair argument to hold up the Eredivisie as the bedrock for defensive solidity but at the same time you can see just how damn good he was in spite of that. I think it's a distracting argument anyway, I just look at what the players can do.

PnG, I think the only consistent pinpoint service (when there is barely anything he needs to do) Messi gets these days, if any, is from Iniesta. Xavi has had about two direct assists to him in two years or something silly. They're a fantastic team but Messi is a huge part of it. Plus I think you might be forgetting just how well financially backed Inter were when Ronaldo was there!