Messi vs Ronaldo – Who is La Liga and arguably the world’s best player?

Prior to this summer the Premiership could readily claim that it was home to the best player in the world as Cristiano Ronaldo’s unstoppable form continued and won him World Player gongs ahead of La Liga’s shining star Lionel Messi. Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid meant that La Liga definitely was the base for the world’s best player although which of the two big names was better was undecided and is still debated constantly. The signing of Ronaldo, along with the arrival of Serie A’s star player Kaka, boosts the profile of La Liga even higher and gives the Spanish league the distinction of being the only league that can seriously compete with the Premiership in the claim to be the world’s best football league. Football is a team sport and the basis on how good a league is can not be formed just on the basis of a couple of players but Spain is proud of the quality of players found in it’s premier division and rightly so.

Forget about the wealth of other talent in Spain for the time being, this discussion isn’t on all the stars but simply a choice between two men – it’s between Ronaldo and Messi, as could be predicted. Forget Kaka, he’s now out of the equation – a regular for Real Madrid but having been shifted out of his favoured position to make way for other players, he’s clearly not regarded as the key man for his club, let alone for the division. Messi and Ronaldo are the cornerstones of their respective teams though. Real Madrid seem to play a lot worse without Ronaldo in their side and constantly moan about his presence while a lot of Barca’s best attacking play comes through Messi and his scintillating runs which give so many opposition defenders nightmares. In terms of which is more important to their squad, it’s clearly Ronaldo – Barca often rest Messi as their squad fires on all cylinders even without him whilst if Ronaldo was fit he would be playing every game. But being the key man for your team doesn’t make you the superior player as I’m sure Ronaldo is aware.

Messi and Ronaldo both have many similarities and differences in the way they play – they both like to run at players, then run past players, and then finally to blast a shot into the back of the net. Their methods of doing this are different though – Ronaldo, as is well known, is a show pony who won’t stop doing tricks to wind up players and skill his way through on his way to scoring. Messi is more direct, running straight towards players and simply skipping past them using his pace. Then there’s the difference in finishing – Ronaldo loves to blast his shots in whilst Messi’s are better placed and seem to roll along the ground more. Both are as effective as each other though and up to Ronaldo’s injury they were tied as the top goalscorers in the division although Ronaldo’s ankle problems have given Messi the chance to take advantage in that particular race.

You could accuse both players of being selfish; they both prefer to keep hold of the ball than to set up a team-mate which can sometimes prove a waste of possession (though not usually with players of this quality). Messi is more willing to lay the ball off to a waiting teammate which helps explain why he, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry got over 100 goals between them as they linked well. Ronaldo’s recent record reads differently as most of Manchester United’s goals over the last few seasons were his, with Ronaldo having ensured that he was either in the best position to receive the ball for a shot, or having made the chance ofr himself. As a result Messi makes a better team player. Ronaldo meanwhile proves a bigger difference maker as, though both can come up with that magical spark, Ronaldo has every single trick possible up his sleeve whilst Messi’s lack of physical power lets him down at times. The World Player gongs would have you believe that Ronaldo is the best player in the world. It’s very tough to call. I would go ahead and say that Messi is actually the better of the two though – football’s a team sport and not just a game to boost the ego as Ronaldo seems to treat it. Ability-wise they appear inseparable but Messi has better footballing qualities aside from his ability to score. Mark Messi out of a game and he’ll still end up assisting a goal for a team-mate. Mark Ronaldo out of a game and he’ll end up sulking. Messi gets my vote, does he get yours?