The Ballon d’Or: Ronaldo or Messi?
By: Ale | November 10th, 2008Thierry Henry’s verbal fellating of Lionel Messi got me thinking… does Ronaldo really deserve the Ballon d’Or this year? I figured he had it locked down, but I decided to check out some numbers:
Ronaldo GP G A
07/08 46 42 9
08/09 28 16 19
His 86 points scored over 74 games equals 1.16 points per game.
Messi GP G A
07/08 33 16 26
08/09 15 12 27
His 81 points scored over 48 games equals 1.69 points per game.
Just for fun let’s throw Torres in there…
Torres GP G A
07/08 41 30 4
08/09 22 9 9
His 52 points scored over 63 games equals 0.81 points per game.
Now let’s look at some positives and negatives for each player:
Ronaldo
+ Scored 42 goals last season.
+ Won the Champion’s League.
+ Won almost every other award you can think of last year.
+ Manchester United finished first in the Premier League in 07/08.
- Manchester United is in danger of falling out of title contention in 08/09.
- Disappeared at Euro 2008.
- Not a great personal start to the 08/09 season.
Messi
+ Scores a half a point per game more than Ronaldo.
+ Great “team” player.
+ Won gold at the 2008 Olympics.
+ Barcelona is in first place in La Liga in 08/09.
- Barcelona finished third in La Liga in 07/08.
- Barcelona lost to Manchester United in the Champion’s League semi-finals.
- No hardware last year.
Torres
+ Instantly made an impact in the Premier League.
+ All 30 of his goals in 07/08 were scored during open play.
+ Won Euro 2008 with Spain, scored deciding goal in the final.
+ Liverpool is tied for first place in the Premier League in 08/09.
- Liverpool finished fourth last season.
- Liverpool lost to Chelsea in the Champion’s League semi-finals.
- No hardware last year.
So after thinking about each player’s accomplishments last season, I realized that all three of them won a competition involving multiple countries, and each of them also stood out in separate ways individually. Ronaldo had an incredible goal haul, Messi surely assisted every goal scored for Barcelona that was not scored BY him, and Torres outdid everyone’s expectations for his first year during the run of play alone.
Back to the point of this post… who do YOU think deserves it the most?
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Category: Barclay's Premier League, Cristiano Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo News, Gossip, Manchester United, UEFA Champions' League
Tags: Barcelona, Barclay's Premier League, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo News, Fernando Torres, Gossip, La Liga, Lionel Messi, Liverpool, Manchester United, Numbers, Premier League, UEFA Champions' LeagueSubscribe
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Comments
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Messi is the best player no doubt… I didnt think he had the numbers to back it up but you proved me wrong… This isnt even including the countless attacks I am sure he initiated with some of his brilliant passes… Ronaldo is a disgrace to the beautiful game… I will be pretty mad but not surprised if he wins… Torres is the best striker in the world IMO but a striker is not as important as a playmaker like Messi… And Ronaldo is essentially a striker playinig on the wing- he does not play with in the team or anything- simply goes for goal as much as possible…
Posted from
United States
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Yes, the 1.69 points per game thing really surprised me. If I had to choose right now, I would still say Ronaldo deserves it the most based on performance/accomplishments only… but if the player’s character is taken into account then I’d have to say Messi should win.
Posted from
United States -
While this is all good and I also agree that Messi is a better player… there are a couple things to point out..
Goals should matter more than assists while calculating points….Ronaldo has much more than Messi… and Ronaldo has played many more games than Messi.. I think Messi being injured during the 07/08 season will hurt his chances a lot…Posted from
United States -
you guys are missing that ronaldo bested him with way more games played. messi played 26 less games…its easier to keep an average like his over a shorter period of time.
Posted from
United States -
Yeah Mat I totally agree on the injury thing… but as far as goals vs assists I think they’re about equal. Sure everyone loves the guy who puts it in the back of the net, but most of the time someone put him in position to do that. I’d say Ronaldo getting a short pass from Rooney and then dancing past 2 defenders to finish would be comparable to Messi running his way through the other team and making a great pass for Henry to simply tap in. Either way it’s still a point.
Posted from
United States -
- Manchester United is in danger of falling out of title contention in 08/09.
What??
talk to me in March about that
Posted from
United States -
Wait a minute, isn’t the Ballon d’Or and FIFA award for best player in a calender year? If so, you need to discount the points made from the start of the 07-08 season up to 1st January 2008.
Posted from
Australia -
And don’t forget what averages mean, look at the aggregates. Leaving aside, the second assist, which is often times even more important than the last pass, let us see what the aggregates say about these players:
Ronaldo was involved in 86 goals. Messi played 26 less games and was still involved in 81 goals. If Messi had played those 26 more games, he would blitz CR in every department. My conclusion on those stats is that Messi is the most effective player.
Posted from
Australia -
I honesty dont think there is a real argument to Ronaldo being better then Messi… I do however think that he is the favorite for the award based on past criteria… He won 2 huge competitions and Messi was injured most of the year… I pray Ronaldo doesnt win but I have to think he is the favorite… The only thing is that a LOT of people feel the same about his attitude and it could show up in the voting…
Posted from
United States -
But of course there’s a major draw back to this points system. It assumes that every goal and every assist is equal in difficulty and importance, which they clearly are not.
Posted from
Australia -
I don’t get the Ronaldo 08/09 stat. Can someone explain? Thanks.
08/09 28 16 19Posted from
Australia -
Hey mate, great post, I second BD’s question. Looks to me that you posted his numbers from 2008 as opposed to the 08/09 season.
Posted from
Australia -
in the last season messi had a 1.27 points per game while cristiano ronaldo had 1.11 point per game.
Posted from
Sweden -
Every Footballer his/her own style of playing, likewise Cristiano Ronaldo. Don’t forget that at 19, he was already the outstanding young player in europe! Cristiano and messi are inseparable but if it comes to winning the award for this year, CR is preferred! Cristiano won champions league and premier league medals (prestigous silverwares) whereas Messi won ONLY Gold medal with Agentina. Take another point that AC milan Kaka (winner of last year’s award) had other wizards playing alongside him in person of Pirlo and Clarence S.!!! Can we clearly see that the success of man utd depended greatly on Cristiano. This is also the same for his national team. whenever, he not playing well in a game, Portugal finds it difficult to win a match!!! Compare the games b/w Portugal vs Brazil in England and Brazil vs Portugal in Brazil!!!
Posted from
United States -
Ronaldo deserves the title. He is my best.
Posted from
United States -
Cristiano is the best player in europe. Please give him the Ballon D’Or.
Posted from
United States -
Where did you get your statistics from? I am not really sure about Ronaldo but Messi’s does not seem correct to me.
The statistics I have seen regarding Messi is 15 goals and 12 assists this season. 27 assists I am sure Messi has not done this season so far even if he has been crazy good.Posted from
Sweden -
The stats seems to be incorrect, have Ronaldo played 28 matches this season? And have Messi scored 27 assists this season alone?!, That would mean that he have been involved in 42 goals, Thats more than Barcelona have scored in the League so far!
Posted from
United States -
No, no, look carefully the third number is not the number of games played, its the assists and goals added up.
Posted from
United States -
MATE YOU NEED TO SORT YOUR STATS OUT
MESSI
2007-08
LEAGUE – APPS 28 GOALS 10 ASSISTS 12
CUP – APPS 1 GOALS O ASSISRS 0
EUROPE – 9 GOALS 6 ASSISTS 1TOTAL – APPS 38 GOALS 16 ASSISTS 13 YELLOW CRD 5 RED CRD 0 SHOTS ON GOAL 48 FOULS COMMITTED 38 FOULS SUFFERRED 94
CRISTIANO
LEAGUE – APPS 34 GOALS 31 ASSISTS 7
CUP – APPS 3 GOALS 3 ASSISTS 0
EUROPE – APPS 11 GOALS 8 ASSISTS 1TOTAL – APPS 48 GOALS 42 ASSISTS 8 YELLOW CRD 7 RED CRD 1
SHOTS ON GOAL 131 FOULS COMMITTED 27 FOULS SUFFERRED 137— DONT KNOW WHERE YOU GOT THEM STATS FROM! I GOT ESPN’S WEBSITE AND WIKIPEDIA AS MY SOURCE OF STATS! YOU GOT A BETTER RELEVANT SOURCE OF STATS? YES? BRING IT ON!
MATE, THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU CALL MESSI A BETTER PLAYER THEN CRISTIANO. I LIKE MESSI BUT HE NEEDS GROWING UP TO DO. MAYBE WHEN HE LEADS BARCELONA TO A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL GOAL AND SCORES AGAINST EVERY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE AND BREAKS A RECORD FOR BEST MIDFIELDER GOAL RATIO AND HAS REAL MADRID BEGGING FOR A 70 MILLION TRANSFER THEN COME AND TALK TO UNITED FANS ABOUT MESSI! UNTIL THEN WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE AND CRISTIANO IS ONE OF THE ORCHESTRATORS AT THE THEATRE OF DREAMS AND THERE AINT ANYONE BIGGER AT THE MINUTE:)
Posted from
United States -
I FORGOT TO ADD
FROM AUGUST 2007 TO AUGUST 2008
MESSI HAS 3 INTERNATIONAL GOALS
CRISTIANO HAS 4 INTRNATIONAL GOALSOn 19 March 2008, Ronaldo captained the United for the first time in his career in a home win over Bolton, scoring both goals in the 2–0 victory.[30] The second of the goals was his 33rd of the campaign, which set a new club single-season scoring record by a midfielder and thus topped George Best’s forty-year-old total of 32 goals in the 1967–68 season.[31] Ronaldo scored another brace in a 4–0 win over Aston Villa on 29 March, which at the time gave him 35 goals in 37 domestic and European matches as both a starter and substitute. Ronaldo’s torrid scoring streak was rewarded with his becoming the first winger to win the 2007–08 European Golden Shoe, finishing eight points ahead of Mallorca’s Dani Güiza
I HOPE THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR YOUR BLOCKED FOOTBALLING BRAINS ABOUT A TALENTED PLAYER WHOSE A BIT COCKY AND IN THE FACE ABOUT HIM BEING THE BEST! THEN AGAIN DOESNT ALL GREAT PLAYERS HAVE ATTITUDE? FOR INSTANCE ZIDANE BUSTED THE POOR ITALIAN AND HE WAS A LEGEND! AND ZIDANE DIDNT HAVE THE BEST OF DISCIPLINE RECORDS!
Posted from
United States -
torres has 9 goals?…..isnt it 5??
Posted from
Jamaica -
Red devil you chat complete shit.
Messi is better than ronaldo, end of.
Ronaldo’s attitude is a disgrace towards the game whereas messi’s isnt. Ronaldo isnt a team player either, he plays for himself and the cameras. On the other hand messi doesnt, shown by the amount of assists he has.
Also how many goals has ronaldo scored away from home this season? he’s one of the most inconsistent players i have ever seen, of course he’s good when he bangs 2 free kicks in against the likes opf stoke or west brom, but when it comes to Arsenal or Liverpool he does fuck all, literally.
A few fancy step overs from ronaldo usually gets him no-where now, its all hge does, everyone has lernt how to deal with it, shown by him not hitting it off this season. Messi goes past defenders asif they arn’t there.
Ronaldo only won it because of what he won last season.
As if he’s better than Kaka, but kaka didnt win much with AC milan last season also so he didnt win it.( Not even mentioning the fact ronaldo wanted to fuck you off to go to real madrid, good commitment to his team.)
Posted from
United Kingdom -
r u crazy or something. if anyone deserves the that award its gonna be ronaldo. some ppl have no clue wat there talking about, (cough cough Will.) u need to watch every game to relize that this is wat he lives up to, this is wat makes ronaldo, ronaldo. and if u ppl who are insulting him on his FAN CLUB pg then u shouldnt be on here, bc ur not a fan.
Posted from
United States
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