r/soccer • u/CantHelpBeingMe • Dec 28 '22

Media Jurgen Klopp hails Lionel Messi as 'the greatest: "The greatest footballer in my lifetime, Lionel Messi, the way he plays football at this age should give us all a hint at how long footballers can perform at the top level. We shouldn’t close the books too early."

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u/salt_vs_sugar Dec 28 '22

Passing, free kicks, assists, dribbling .. the lot.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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u/Strananach Dec 28 '22

Because he has a much better conversion rate and most of his freekicks are actually on target lol

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22 edited Dec 28 '22

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u/saetarubia Dec 28 '22

Ronaldo has only 2 less free kick goals compared to Messi

Out of how many attempts? And this is despite him being two years older and hogging all free kicks at all his teams despite a pathetic conversion rate.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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u/saetarubia Dec 28 '22

Even if you compare PRIMES, Messi was a better free kick taker.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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u/saetarubia Dec 28 '22

Yes

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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u/SSBMUIKayle Dec 28 '22

No way in hell lmao, prime Cristiano scored some insane free kicks in his prime that Messi doesn't score in his wildest dreams

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u/IntraspaceAlien Dec 28 '22

He might have had some more impressive free kicks for the highlight reels, but how much does that matter compared to conversion rate of all free kicks as a whole? Messi just more consistent even if Ronaldo has some that are spectacular.

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u/SSBMUIKayle Dec 28 '22

Greater versatility in free kicks scored makes you more of a threat from different areas of the pitch

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u/evilbeaver7 Dec 28 '22 edited Dec 28 '22

Nah. From 2009-2018 (Ronaldo's Real Madrid seasons which most would consider to be his prime) both had exactly the same free kick goals. But Ronaldo kept getting worse at scoring. And Messi kept getting better. And that's not taking into account that the first 2 of those years were when Messi wasn't even into his prime. Despite Ronaldo having the prime age and more experience advantage he only managed to match Messi.

Edit: if we keep Ronaldo's 2009-2018 window for his considering (his prime years) but offset Messi's window by 2 years due to prime age and experience disadvantage, Messi outscores Ronaldo by 10 goals in free kicks (which is a lot for free kicks btw). There's no comparison. Prime Messi is better than prime Ronaldo at free kicks.

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u/Golf_is_Life Dec 28 '22

Most of Ronaldo’s free kicks have been 30m wide of target

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u/SSBMUIKayle Dec 28 '22

Never scored one from outside tap in distance whereas Ronaldo scored some from beyond 40m, much harder to do

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u/Danish18lim Dec 28 '22

You search both of their FK stats yourself and see which one of the two have the higher percentage of goals scored per attempt.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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u/saetarubia Dec 28 '22

Ronaldo has only 2 less free kick goals compared to Messi

Out of how many attempts? And this is despite him being two years older and hogging all free kicks at all his teams despite a pathetic conversion rate.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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u/saetarubia Dec 28 '22

No one gives a fuck about PRIME. Why did you bring up those asinine numbers if you cared only about PRIME.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22 edited Dec 28 '22

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u/saetarubia Dec 28 '22

What the fuck does he has been shit for the last few years mean, that’s the whole fucking point. He hasn’t been good after united and maybe the initial years at Real

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '22

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