Congrats to one of the.greatest teams of all time. They are truly a dominant side, so much so that other very good teams would love to have their 13th, 14th, Hell, 18th best player.

Today was dominated by Modric, Casemiro, Marcelo, Isco, and of course, Ronaldo's finishing. He is a special player, no doubt, but he is not on the level of Messi. It's almost silly to compare the two now, as they're not anything alike.

Four years ago, yes, they could be compared as they both dominated the game in much the same way. Now, no. Ronaldo's true comparison now is Lewendowski, who is also a great finisher surrounded by great creators, providers, and ball-possessors.

Again, Ronaldo is among the greatest to ever play, but cries of GOAT are from fans. Messi is better, always will be. Ronaldo might win another ballon do'er this year, but it will be because his team was better than Messi's, not because he was better than Messi.

Honestly, Barca might be in big trouble for quite a few years, as they have many decisions to make about their team, while Real just won Europe with 2 of the most expensive players ever on the bench. But Messi is the true GOAT, never seen anything like him, probably never will again.

He's great. Can't we just leave it at that? Must every discussion of Ronaldo go into a comparison to Messi?

Butt hurt Barca tears are awesome!!!
Hala Madrid y Nada Mas

wangus12 said:

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You started this thread trying to offer some semblance of praise only in an attempt to start what has really become a very tired argument

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The argument exists, I posted about it. That's all. Ronaldo is awesome. RM is incredible.

GuatemalanAg said:

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Butt hurt Barca tears are awesome!!!
Hala Madrid y Nada Mas

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I have no great ties to any Euro soccer team, more to great, enjoyable soccer. I was a huge RM fan when they had Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Redondo. I was a big fan of CR when he was at Man U. Over the years, his act has worn on me, admittedly, and I don't like his demeanor on the field. He is obviously a great player, but imo not the greatest ever.

dre, didn't mean it that way. Thread title does not imply positive or negative thread, maybe RM fans just assume too much. RM is really a great team, put together incredibly, and now with Zidane seem to be unstoppable.

Add to that the fact that they can get rid of Bale and James and possibly upgrade their already dominant team. You RM fans have the last laugh, though it reminds me of the NY Yankees a little bit. Pay the most money for your players, you should win. Interested to see who they add for next season, and how Barca tries to catch up.

Facepalm

Both Messi and Ronaldo are really, really good. Leave it at that.

RedAgs01 said:

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Both Messi and Ronaldo are really, really good. Leave it at that.

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And we could agree that opinions such as GOAT can't be quantified. Whether you think it's Ronaldo (either one), Messi, Pele, Maradona, etc. They're all legends of the game and if one person happens to think they're the GOAT, I'm not going to try and dissuade them from that opinion.

snowdog90 said:

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dre, didn't mean it that way. Thread title does not imply positive or negative thread, maybe RM fans just assume too much. RM is really a great team, put together incredibly, and now with Zidane seem to be unstoppable.

Add to that the fact that they can get rid of Bale and James and possibly upgrade their already dominant team. You RM fans have the last laugh, though it reminds me of the NY Yankees a little bit. Pay the most money for your players, you should win. Interested to see who they add for next season, and how Barca tries to catch up.

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I'm not a RM fan but your thread title implies that you're going to talk about Real and Ronaldo yet you spend 75% of the post talking about how Messi is better than Ronaldo and bring up a tired argument.

I mean, you're opinion is valid...I just wouldn't have clicked on the thread if the title accurately represented the content. An annoyance...nothing more.

My bad if I misrepresented. I will refrain from Messi-Ronaldo talk in the future. Zidane was one of my favorite players and I'm happy he got the win. It would be something if he became as successful a manager as he was a player.

snowdog90 said:

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dre, didn't mean it that way. Thread title does not imply positive or negative thread, maybe RM fans just assume too much. RM is really a great team, put together incredibly, and now with Zidane seem to be unstoppable.

Add to that the fact that they can get rid of Bale and James and possibly upgrade their already dominant team. You RM fans have the last laugh, though it reminds me of the NY Yankees a little bit. Pay the most money for your players, you should win. Interested to see who they add for next season, and how Barca tries to catch up.

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If you think we're just buying players like James and Bale and that's why we should win, think again.

Part of Zidane's mission is a reclamation project of Castilla. Casemiro was ignored and somewhat written off until Zidane came back. He's done a good job bringing talent up from Castilla which is why we can let Bale and James leave. We lost Xabi two years ago but largely haven't missed him. We also have Asensio getting playing time and if Morata leaves I expect to see Mariano see several games.

What's going on in here?

Quote:

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If you think we're just buying players like James and Bale and that's why we should win, think again.

Part of Zidane's mission is a reclamation project of Castilla. Casemiro was ignored and somewhat written off until Zidane came back. He's done a good job bringing talent up from Castilla which is why we can let Bale and James leave. We lost Xabi two years ago but largely haven't missed him. We also have Asensio getting playing time and if Morata leaves I expect to see Mariano see several games.

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RM is definitely successful because of the players they can buy. They have made such great decisions and purchases that Bale and James not playing didn't hurt them at all. That's where they've been better than the Man U's and Barca's and other big teams of late. That's why I see them continuing to dominate for a few more years at least.

For every Casemiro, there's a Ronaldo, Bale and James. Juve is the same, to a slightly lesser degree, but RM's big money purchases have worked better than other teams'.

snowdog90 said:

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Congrats to one of the.greatest teams of all time. They are truly a dominant side, so much so that other very good teams would love to have their 13th, 14th, Hell, 18th best player.

Today was dominated by Modric, Casemiro, Marcelo, Isco, and of course, Ronaldo's finishing. He is a special player, no doubt, but he is not on the level of Messi. It's almost silly to compare the two now, as they're not anything alike.

Four years ago, yes, they could be compared as they both dominated the game in much the same way. Now, no. Ronaldo's true comparison now is Lewendowski, who is also a great finisher surrounded by great creators, providers, and ball-possessors.

Again, Ronaldo is among the greatest to ever play, but cries of GOAT are from fans. Messi is better, always will be. Ronaldo might win another ballon do'er this year, but it will be because his team was better than Messi's, not because he was better than Messi.

Honestly, Barca might be in big trouble for quite a few years, as they have many decisions to make about their team, while Real just won Europe with 2 of the most expensive players ever on the bench. But Messi is the true GOAT, never seen anything like him, probably never will again.

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Messi does have all those world cup titles.

Love when people who follow European teams(Americans) say we when talking about the team they follow.

Please don't do this if you go to Europe and watch a game.

PatAg said:

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snowdog90 said:

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Congrats to one of the.greatest teams of all time. They are truly a dominant side, so much so that other very good teams would love to have their 13th, 14th, Hell, 18th best player.

Today was dominated by Modric, Casemiro, Marcelo, Isco, and of course, Ronaldo's finishing. He is a special player, no doubt, but he is not on the level of Messi. It's almost silly to compare the two now, as they're not anything alike.

Four years ago, yes, they could be compared as they both dominated the game in much the same way. Now, no. Ronaldo's true comparison now is Lewendowski, who is also a great finisher surrounded by great creators, providers, and ball-possessors.

Again, Ronaldo is among the greatest to ever play, but cries of GOAT are from fans. Messi is better, always will be. Ronaldo might win another ballon do'er this year, but it will be because his team was better than Messi's, not because he was better than Messi.

Honestly, Barca might be in big trouble for quite a few years, as they have many decisions to make about their team, while Real just won Europe with 2 of the most expensive players ever on the bench. But Messi is the true GOAT, never seen anything like him, probably never will again.

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Messi does have all those world cup titles.

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Meaning what? How is this relevant?

Real is one of the greatest teams in the world; its clear that they have been so great because of Rimando. Kessie is great as well, but he's Ivorian. I mean come on...

We're talking about the Nick Rimando and Franck Kessie rivalry right?

aggie7911 said:

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Love when people who follow European teams(Americans) say we when talking about the team they follow.

Please don't do this if you go to Europe and watch a game.

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You're easily one of the ten best posters named aggie7911.

jeffk said:

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What's going on in here?

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"Real Madrid was awesome, Ronaldo was great, but hey he's not as great as Messi I mean that's ridiculous we can all agree that's ridiculous, but that's not what I came here to talk about, because Real Madrid and Ronaldo were amazing this year.

Just not as amazing as Messi. Which, again, is not my intent. Even though it clearly was."

aggie7911 said:

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Love when people who follow European teams(Americans) say we when talking about the team they follow.

Please don't do this if you go to Europe and watch a game.

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If somebody from Europe came down to an A&M game and used "we," I've give 'em a thumbs up and a beer.

jeffk said:

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What's going on in here?

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Aside from the tired CR7/Messi argument, apparently only RM spends big money on big players... 'Cause Neymar and "The Biter" Suarez were free additions.

aggie7911 said:

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Love when people who follow European teams(Americans) say we when talking about the team they follow.

Please don't do this if you go to Europe and watch a game.

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Is there an eye roll emoji? There should be an eye roll emoji.

It's been a real joy being a Real fan these last 6 years.

Honestly when I started following the team, Barca were SO dominant with Messi. I almost felt cheated that such a great player (Ronaldo) would probably never get over the hump to match what was going on at Barca. Holy cow have I been treated to some payoff. 3/4 UCL titles? Multiple Ballon Dors? It's just been incredible. I feel very lucky to have enjoyed this era of soccer with the Messi/Ronaldo duel. I feel the same about the last 10-12 years of Tennis. Great great era.

The GOAT argument is pointless. Just enjoy the greatness in front of you before it's gone.

And for the record, I'd be VERY surprised if they sold Bale. Dude is special. And the talk about bringing in Hazard? Just don't see it. Bale is superior to Hazard.

Benzema is getting older. I expect Ronaldo to slide into that center striker role more with Isco and Bale flanking. Ascension will get much more PT backing them up. Could be totally wrong about that but it makes sense to my feeble soccer mind.

I expect Real to sell James to ManU and Morata to Milan. Pepe will leave maybe to PSG.

Inbound will be De Gea from ManU and Mbappe from Monaco. The Mbappe deal may be for $150,000,000.

exp said:

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And for the record, I'd be VERY surprised if they sold Bale. Dude is special. And the talk about bringing in Hazard? Just don't see it. Bale is superior to Hazard.

Benzema is getting older. I expect Ronaldo to slide into that center striker role more with Isco and Bale flanking. Ascension will get much more PT backing them up. Could be totally wrong about that but it makes sense to my feeble soccer mind.

I expect Real to sell James to ManU and Morata to Milan. Pepe will leave maybe to PSG.

Inbound will be De Gea from ManU and Mbappe from Monaco. The Mbappe deal may be for $150,000,000.

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When you overpay for a guy you feel the need to keep him. Bale is injured often and hasn't produced many goals. Not exactly beloved by the faithful in Spain. He only sniffed the pitch in the final because it is Wales. He's not the next Ronaldo and I hope we unload him while we can get something for him.

We we we we. Did I say we? We.

Ronaldo resting late in the season looks to have made a difference.

So what moves would you make? What moves do you expect? I think Benzema is over the hill. Would prefer Morata to him.

And I don't think they overpaid for Bale. He delivered single handedly a Copa del Rey and also scored the go ahead goal for La Decima. Since bringing him in, whether he individually dominated or not, the team has won UCL 3 times. I think it was a successful move for the club and he didn't need to be the next Ronaldo because we still have the original performing at Ballon D'or level. You can recognize all that and still believe it's the right time to sell him, but I don't agree with the overpaid statement.

exp said:

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So what moves would you make? What moves do you expect? I think Benzema is over the hill. Would prefer Morata to him.

And I don't think they overpaid for Bale. He delivered single handedly a Copa del Rey and also scored the go ahead goal for La Decima. Since bringing him in, whether he individually dominated or not, the team has won UCL 3 times. I think it was a successful move for the club and he didn't need to be the next Ronaldo because we still have the original performing at Ballon D'or level. You can recognize all that and still believe it's the right time to sell him, but I don't agree with the overpaid statement.

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That's an easy call. More goals off the bench in fewer matches. Better movement off the ball, better in the air, and on the ascent. Morata will pay for transfers but truly should be our starter. Unless Zidane has a lot of confidence in Mariano or, as you said, moves cristiano up top.

Depends on how confident he is in Danilo and Nacho imo. Carvajal and Marcelo are irreplaceable, we saw the games change when Carvajal went down (and of course his impact on the final). Already put up the money for Theo at the back but we're losing two, not just one.

James is on the way out but Mbappe...

We're blessed with being deep. Hard to forsee other exits right now. Isco is too talented for the bench, same with bale, so how does Zidane handle it? Don't know how long vazquez and Asensio will be happy off the bench either.

Yeah, I've been fascinated with the "B team" philosophy that Real employed this year. It's not a new concept, but I've rarely seen it used so explicitly. Just straight up sending a separate eleven to deal with La Liga fixtures against crap opponents, while the entire first choice XI rest and relax.

It worked flawlessly this year, but I have to wonder how long the B team guys will be happy with their road trips to Granada

This thread is great. lol