The Brazilian Ronaldo


Well tbh I hadn't actually thought of ten, it was just a figure of speech, but as you've called my bluff, off the top of my head and choosing genuine centre forwards - target men - of (more or less) my era (eg I never saw Nat Lofthouse or Stan Mortensen), in no order:

Didier Drogba NO chance
Luigi Riva (childhood hero)
Christian Vieri NO chance
Gerd Muller
Ivan Zamorano NO chance
John Charles
Cristiano Ronaldo
Zlatan No chance
Pele
and for entirely partisan reasons, Cloughy


The Brazilian Ronaldo may have been as good as some of these but for, relatively, a very short time.

You could make a case for the other 6 but them 4 who were top players are not even close to what buck tooth Ronaldo was as a centre forward
 
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As a striker, he's right up there with Van Basten, who I would say slightly has the edge.
Both fantastic centre forwards though.
 
At his peak The real Ronaldo was the best for me. He had everything, the pace, power, skill and shooting, pretty much the complete striker.

Mind you, I think history will see Messi and C.Ronaldo as the best ever. It’s unbelievable how they have both kept motivated to score and create as much as they have year after year. Messi will be seen as the greatest imo.

I pity those who think Romario was better
Not much pity there mind.
 
Incredible player. In the time he was at his peak before his injuries I don’t think that I’ve seen better.
 
He was outrageous in his pomp. Best around for many a year.

Personally I loved shevchenko, used to be Real Madrid on champ man when ronaldo was there and try to pair them together. Got proper excited when shevchenko went to Chelsea because I’d get to see him live. He didn’t tear it up but he scored some absolute rakers for them.

If ronaldo hadn’t of got the awful injuries it would be more of a discussion as a three way of who was better, him, messi or Cristiano Ronaldo
 
At his peak The real Ronaldo was the best for me. He had everything, the pace, power, skill and shooting, pretty much the complete striker.

Mind you, I think history will see Messi and C.Ronaldo as the best ever. It’s unbelievable how they have both kept motivated to score and create as much as they have year after year. Messi will be seen as the greatest imo.


Not much pity there mind.
I don't think Messi and Ronaldo would have done it without each other, almost like two rival boxers needed each other to get better
 
Incredible balance for a player of such pace and power, great scoring ratio and I,m not sure I remember him being a penalty take so often either, certainly a great player of his generation,i liked Batigol aswell
 
Incredible balance for a player of such pace and power, great scoring ratio and I,m not sure I remember him being a penalty take so often either, certainly a great player of his generation,i liked Batigol aswell
My favourite thing about battigoal was the power in his shots, Italian football was class at that time, Roberto baggio was on a different level for a little while to
 
Brazilian Ronaldo the best number 9 ever. Modern day Ronaldo has adapted his game well to the number 9 role but he was better a few years ago, where he was cropping up in all forward areas and given freedom. He's had to adapt getting older.
 
I vaguely remember him probably just after his peak. I was 10 during the 2002 World Cup and remember all the lads had his haircut.

What I never could have guessed from looking at him around that time was just how fast he was before his injuries, he was absolutely rapid.

Not long ago I watched a video of a solo goal he scored for Barcelona and Sir Bobby Robson leapt to his feet in the dugout and threw his hands around the top of his head mouth agape at what he had just seen. :lol:
 
In 45 years as a season ticket holder at Old Trafford I only ever once saw the entire stadium rise to applaud an opposition player off....
That was the original Ronaldo.
I was at OT and saw the Stratford End give a standing ovation to Stefan Effenburg after he totally dictated a game when Bayern beat you 1-0, was European Cup QF I think, can’t remember the year, talk about pulling the strings one of the best midfield displays i’ve ever seen.
 

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