@thedailybagel: Ok I dont want to get into the little things or get sidetracked by a ronaldo vs messi debate but....
I think he is indeed, leagues better than Ronaldo. Goals arent the end all of football, or Zidane himself wouldnt have been in the reckoning
But, even if you want to compare that one thing, Ronaldo has scored like 10 more goals than Messi .......having played a 100 more games, without even going to his attitude regarding even things like his teammate scoring ( and Messi outright offering penalties to his teammates ) and stuff like the end of the 2010-11 season, after Mourinho's Real were already out of the reckoning, the team officially admitting they were only playing to give him the golden shoe ( he scored 10 odd goals in 3 games iirc)
I would say there are plenty of players from the current generation whom I would classify as all time greats, and yet they are not in Messi's league
This is the point I'm trying to make
David Beckham for instance, on his best day , isnt in Zidane's league himself, but he was indeed a world class player, a legend even
Likewise the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Kaka , Robben etc are all true greats of the game , who if they had played in any other era, would stand a decent chance of winning the Ballon Dor themselves
But they are not in Messi's league.
Henry, Rivaldo , and the original Ronaldo definitely ,just to pick 3 there , were all in Zidane's league just fine . No one would have batted an eye if they had won the ballon dor for a specific year in there where zidane won it.
People would literally lose it ( because it doesnt make sense) if say Robben or Xavi won a ballon dor in a year Messi played well
There is a reason. And I personally dont think say Xavi , is much worse than Rivaldo , if at all
Messi is just so much better than anyone else right now
Zidane never was
See my logic?
Anyway other things
Best was never at the top for too long
Maradona same thing, though he played in arguably the toughest league of all time, at that time. The world cup tends to take away from the fact that say van Basten in the late 80s wasnt considered too far off Diego
Also, Maradona kept it up for 5 years at best , Messi has been world class for at least a decade now, and the undisputed or disputed , "best in the world " for nearly the same period
Maradona wasnt considered the best in the world for more than 5 years
Messi has greater longevity at the top and a wider gap between his rivals than diego ever had
Pele is harder to call because of the insufficient data back then, and the fact that he didnt play in europe
Even so , barring Pele no one has been among the top 2 at least footballers of their time, as long as Messi has
the analogy with Mayweather doesnt work. There were more players at that time indeed, but many of todays players would fir in just fine in that era too. It isnt so big a gap
Messi is stronger on the ball
In the air? Eh...i already said heading...but Messi isnt too bad in the air himself for a guy his size
Shot power is a really stupid criterion. Roberto carlos had more shot power than zidane, what does it matter if he misses 9/10 chances?
Anyway Messi's shot *accuracy* is far better than Zidane's or indeed his finishing
Control is debatable I guess, but I don't think Zidane had *better* control than Messi. Messi miscontrolling any kind of ball is rare. Zidane did it in more showy way
I guess
Personally the main reason I think this would be a stomp is that there is no category in which messi is ridiculously worse than Zidane, while speed, pressing back/ tackling ,finishing and dribbling are stomps for leo
Which is a scary thought when you consider than zidane was one of the best dribblers of recent memory. Messi though, is statistically the best dribbler of all time ( yes, better than even Pele)
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