Ronaldo R9 from Brazil vs Lionel Messi?

I don't think it's fair to compare careers of the two: Ronaldo was brilliant for a few years, injured for a few years, won the world Cup, got fat. It's a great career but not an all-time great career. Messi isn't - in my opinion - an all-time great just yet, but he's a lot of the way there, and if he continues as he has done so far he will be. (I don't consider winning the world cup a necessary feat for an all-time great: Cruyff, Puskas and Eusebio never won it, Best and Di Stefano never even played in one.) Anyway, point is both players at 24ish were potential all-time greats, the difference is Messi is still fit and playing and has already won far more club medals, whereas Ronaldo got hurt which greatly limited his career. It's unfortunate but that's football. Also, I don't really buy your claims about Ronaldo playing in a more difficult era: firstly, his career was split in two: Many of the players you name were not prominent when Ronaldo was at his absolute peak at Barcelona (I would also dispute whether Barthez, R. Carlos, Materazzi, Beckham, Owen or Gerrard were particularly exceptional players as well). Not to mention Ronaldo and Carlos were on the same team more often than not, and did Ronaldo ever play against Gerrard? etc. In short, I don't think it's a very good argument. Not to mention as both are forwards it's the quality of defense (and the tactics used) that are in question. I don't think defensive standards have dropped vastly in the last 10-15 years. Besides, if you are using strength of era as a criteria it doesn't necessarily bolster Ronaldo's claim: the World Cup Ronaldo won (which his reputation hinges on) was one of the weakest ever. As for who is a better footballer, that's very hard to say especially as they play different roles, have entirely different body types, etc. Certainly Ronaldo won the world cup which counts for alot but Messi otherwise has a vastly greater range of awards, and by the end of his career will probably have left Ronaldo in the dust in terms of achievements, though I do wonder whether he'll ever win a world cup. Personally I prefer the more diverse player (Messi) but I remember how ridiculous Ronaldo was at his peak, but for me it was too short a peak.

lionel messi will play better than ronaldho because messii has been 3 times best player of ufa campion.

ronaldo

see messi is already better than anybody in this era...messi still is missing that world cup but his performance over the last three champions League is absolutely phenomenal..and R9 didn't win the serie A and also didn't win the champions league..his performance was astounding in the 1998 world cup where he won the golden ball but in 2002,he was more like a poacher rather than a striker(8 goals,0 assists)..and of course,golden ball is more important award than golden boot because golden ball is given to the best player of tournament by looking at goals,assists and impact on his team.. i do agree that messi performs average-ish for his country but you can't really blame him because argentina's defense is very weak..and R9 also had the support of a solid defence(cafu,carlos,dida)..and you claim that R9 played in a difficult football era which is not true..from the late 90's till now,the quality of defense have remained unchanged..the most difficult football era of all time was the 80's when the quality of defense was the highest.. in short,messi's club career is far far greater than R9 and by the end of messi's career, he will join the pantheon of the greatest footballer of all time(Maradona,Pele)...