Ronaldo vs Juve CL final 2017, simply because it’s the best player we’ve ever seen (in terms of prime/ peak) delivering again despite playing another world class team that knew exactly what he was going to do. I don’t think we’ll ever see a player at that level again.
I just can’t see why people rate Messi so far clear as the best player of all time. Especially when his career post 2015 is just not that good. There are so many gaping holes but people just seem content that he’s basically been a flat track bully for 8 years with 0 CL success.
Messi 2009-12 and 2015 was unbelievable and arguably the best player of all time. Messi from 2016 to 2022 was just nothing compared to the greats and consistently failed in big games, despite having a much better attacking cast than Ronaldo, Ronaldo dominated football for 3 years like nothing we’ve ever seen but people pretend that it didn’t happen.
Messi might be the best passer, dribbler, playmaker, goal scorer, free kick taker and all those things, just so long as it’s not world class opposition and it’s not a big game. So how does that end with him being this unanimous goat? In 2018 he went out of the CL to Roma, Roma then played Liverpool and were 4-0 down in the first half.
2019 was the perfect example, a brilliant first leg and then he needs one goal to basically win the Champions League and he turns up with nothing against Liverpool. He still won the Balon Dor? Ahead of VVD, who was on the pitch in the biggest game of the season and kept a clean sheet against Messi, then did it again in the final while Messi watched on TV.
A couple of years ago he won’t the Balon Dor for a glorified friendly against Brazil where he didn’t even do anything?
This year he won despite being the 3rd best player in the world (at best) and not even close to the treble winning goal machine who didn’t move to play in America after struggling in France all year.
Messi vs Bayern in 2015 might be the best player ever, nothing after that ever even came close but people pretend he had this insane longevity as the best player in the world. He was closer to the 3rd best player in the world than he was to Ronaldo during 2016-19.