I'm not a football historian but from the 20 years or so that I actively watch football, clips and the stuff I read up on, this would be my take:
Outside of the obvious big 3 I'd have Di Stefano clearly as the best. His impact is clear and unparalleled. Real Madrid won 2 La Ligas in almost half a century before and after him while winning it 8 times (!) with him. The only reason he was never considered up there with Maradona and Pelé is the lacking World Cup trophy. The reason for that is mostly down to the political climate during his active time. Argentina suffered military coups in 43, 55, 62, 66. Imagine a national team environment with 4 military coups where you have strong pro and anti regime supporters and football certainly is not the top priority within the country. Then, he moved to Spain and played a handful of games for them internationally where it was the same shit under Franco dictatorship during the aftermath of Spanish Civil War. Just the worst possible timing to wear the Argentina or Spain national jerseys in the 50s and 60s. Both countries had other stuff to worry about instead of building a working football national team infrastructure.
After Di Stefano, Platini and Cruyff would be my picks. I don't know if I have to write much about Cruyff on a Barca forum.
1984 EC by Platini might be one of the best NT performances of all time. Left foot, right foot, freekick, headers. He scored all sorts of goals while primarily being a playmaker who dictated the tempo of the game. Back then he was considered on par or even above Maradona, only until Maradona won the WC in 86 that debate ended. Without a doubt the better and more consistent French player out of him and Zidane though.
After that it becomes a bit blurry for me. Players like Zico who mostly spent their times in Brazil I can't comment much on but out of all the Brazilian stars Romario probably is the best Brazilian player of all time after Pelé. Again, I'm not a football professor and wouldn't argue against it if someone argued in favour of Garrincha or Zico or whoever (though Garrincha gives strong hipster pick vibes). But:
Imagine falling out with your NT coach who doesn't nominate you which ends up with Brazil losing their first ever WC qualification game. Fans and media pressure the coach to get Romario back in the team. Romario comes out publicly to declare that he is going to win the WC and actually does so while being the best player of the tournament. In today's celeb worshipping social media Instagram world a player like that would be hailed as the undisputed GOAT, Muhammad Ali Mk2. Obviously he was also part of Barca's dream team and when a "philosophy or bust" coach like Cruyff overlooks your partying and "not always following coaching instructions" you know he was in different stratosphere, unlike Ronaldinho who Pep got rid off immediately when Ronaldinho was still 28. No one gets rid of a "top 10 of all time" at 28. You'd at least try to redeem the player as a coach if you think he's untouchably good and just lacks motivation or discipline, which could be solved with strong coaching.
How small details change the entire course of history. I'm 100 % certain if Romario does not get injured in 98 and Ronaldo doesn't get that seizure before the final, Brazil 100 % wins the World Cup back to back. Woulda, coulda, shoulda of course. So people might not agree with me but Romario certainly ranks higher than Dinho or any other Brazilian since Pelé for me.
So in my list Di Stefano would come right after Péle, Maradona and Messi. Then Cruyff and Platini (over Zidane) and Romario (over Ronaldinho). The 2 Ronaldos wouldn't be anywhere near my top 10 list. R9 for sure if we talk about 1 or 2 season peaks but not over their whole careers. He was only at GOAT level until 1999 for about 2 years when his knee got shot. From then on he was "only" a world class striker. His insane acceleration elevating him beyond other WC strikers was gone.
When we talk about pure goal poachers like Cristiano I wouldn't know why he should be anywhere close to an all time list or even above the likes of Puskas. Overall his impact on his teams is way overstated and a product of the "Messi Ronaldo rivalry" artificially fuelled by (social) media era. At 24 years of age he was taking stupid shots from 50 yards in a CL final like a maniac, showing less intelligence and team work than 17 year old Yamal. At Madrid he got humiliated up until he turned 30 when finally Ramos scored that 92 minute header to win them La Decima and then the floodgates opened with Ramos again deciding the first CL final in their 3-peat and countless clutch last minute wins. Sure, Cristiano also had some performances, against Bayern most notably, but nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn't expect from time to time from a world class forward, same as Lewandowski scoring 4 against Real.
That's my take.
Great post. Bit harsh on R9 although good point on his lack of longevity (and I am one of the Garrincha 'hipsters' lol), but I wouldn't disagree with much.
The stuff about Cristiano Ronaldo is correct. He actually won a lot more after he focused on goalscoring and became a lot more one dimensional, proving without a shadow of a doubt that he needs a great team around him more than Messi ever did.
Like you imply, he's always taken millions of shots to score a goal and is a law of averages type player - do something enough times and eventually you will succeed. I am sure he has consistently had a pretty low shot conversion ratio.
Even big knockout games where he gets wanked over and people judge on his goals - sheer stats obsession. Most of the time he was on the periphery of the games and simply finished chances created for him down to the team's hard graft. I am sure I read that 75 percent of his goals at real madrid came with his first touch, highlighting that he needed service big time and that his heading and movement were his biggest strengths. All things I have always said and that those stats bear out.
He's really no better than Puskas or Muller (I would argue worse) and as I have said his reputation is VASTLY inflated due to marketing, fanboys his extremely overrated physical attractiveness (by some, many people think he's ugly too), and celebrity worship era in general.
Obviously he was an excellent player but there's been plenty better. People just wank over him because he kept pace with Messi's stats so it gives the dumb the idea he is level or a rival of Messi's. Outside of stats though (which messi has too and even more) there is absolutely zero comparison on a qualitative level. Idiots just want create a rivalry because they see football as some sort of soap opera rather than a sport, like that guy khaled on here who says Ronaldo is a big part of Messi's 'story' (cringe).
He's obviously a great player but just one of many. This idea that he sits alongside Messi, Maradona and Pele or is next in line after them is just such utter utter bollocks, and proves what an overrated cunt he is.
Oh, and he's generally been invisible at international tournaments. Had one, two max good ones out of 11 I think it is now, and never came close to a Player of the Tournament award. Never registered a goal or assist or decent performance every time Portugal get eliminated. Yet thickos say he can shine in any team even if they don't have the talent of Real or Man U. Idiots wank over his 130 odd goals or whatever, even though the vast majority come against cannon fodder in qualifiers and he has like a paltry 3 knockout goals in actual tournaments. He won the Ballon d'or for his goalscoring against Sweden in a play-ff qualifier, and then was predictably terrible at the actual World Cup and actually cost them qualification to the knockouts with all those missed chances against Ghana. Sums him up. Yet his fanboys will still say he gets no service lol.
He's probably done more meaningless stat padding than any player since 1960. Even now some morons are wanking over him getting close to 1,000 goals, even though he's playing in a donkey league and his stat padding at Juve, Man United and Al Nassr has generally counted for absolutely fuck all as all those teams got worse when he was there.
Never have the phrases 'style over substance' or' quantity over quality' applied to a footballer more than to Cristiano Ronaldo. Except maybe to Lewy, who as
@KingLeo10 correctly says is very Ronaldo-coded in much of the above, just the Poundland version.
If you are smart or insightful you can take apart a lot of the surface-level takes about Ronaldo in seconds.
