Pick: Phillies (-149) over Twins
Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James are 2 of the best players in their respective sports. But that's not the only similarity they have. I've been saying for the longest that Cristiano Ronaldo is the LeBron James of soccer. They both have dominant talent over their competition but have a reputation of disappearing in crucial moments and not coming through in the clutch. I think in LeBron's case it's worse because more people dislike him than Ronaldo. But they both still have this problem.
I'll start by comparing what's happened in the past 24 hours. Last night, LeBron put up another amazing stat line of 30 points, 9 boards, and 4 assists. I'll admit that he didn't get much help from his partner in crime Dwyane Wade but that should have given LeBron more of a reason to become more aggressive. But let's be real, the man can't do it by himself. Everyone can point out that Kevin Durant scored 17 in the 4th but you can't forget that he got a lot of help from Russell Westbrook, who almost finished with a triple double. I did have a problem with LeBron shying away from guarding KD when it mattered. We all know that he's the best defensive player for Miami and that Shane Battier just doesn't have much defensive capability anymore. If you want to win this ring, you just have to accept this challenge because there's only 1 guy on the court that could somewhat slow down Durant...YOU.
Today, the best game of the Euros so far was played between Portugal and Denmark. A great comeback by Denmark, only to see a yeeee ball from Varela of Portugal. But a headline from that match was the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo had 2 wide opportunities to put the game away and did absolutely nothing with those chances. 1 on 1 with the keeper...you have to finish those, especially if you're arguably the best player in Europe. And when Denmark tied the game, it seemed like he wasn't trying to help the TEAM win but he was trying to make up for his personal mistake. It doesn't work that way buddy.
Ok, we know that Ronaldo hasn't done much with his national team. But this doesn't mean he hasn't disappointed in crucial moments with Real Madrid. A lot of people get on LeBron for going to bed at a quarter past 3 but Ronaldo has had those moments also. Example: in the 2nd leg of the semi-finals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League this year, Ronaldo opened the game by scoring 2 goals. We all thought it was over and Madrid was going to be in the Final. Well, Bayern got an important PK from Robben which evened the score on aggregate. In the waning moments of the game, Cristiano Ronaldo started playing what I like to call "Hero Ball." Questionable decisions with the ball, tunnel vision, deer in headlights, basically trying to be the hero...only to come up short with every chance he had. The game went to a penalty shootout. Ronaldo was the 1st to take a PK for Real Madrid and of course...he missed. Well, saying he missed would be an understatement. He basically passed the ball to Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer. Madrid ended up losing the shootout and a chance in the Final where they were favorites at home.
I'll look at it from both ways though, Ronaldo did step up and score the game winner this year at Barcelona minutes after Barcelona tied up the score. This essentially won Real Madrid La Liga this past season. And I'm not going to look past the fact that he scored the game winner last year against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey (which they then dropped during their parade and ran over). But ever since he put on the Real Madrid uniform a couple of years ago, his reputation has been similar to LeBron's since he's put on the Miami Heat jersey. If you try me, I can even go back to Ronaldo's days at Manchester United and show you that he's failed in big moments.
I would say the only difference between these 2 is the fact that Ronaldo has won more trophies than LeBron with obviously more opportunities. In soccer, players aren't measured by the number of Champions Leagues they've won when they already have multiple domestic league championships. If that was the case, then Ronaldo and LeBron could literally have the same DNA. But in basketball, players are heavily measured on 1 thing...rings. And there's only 1 way to get a ring...win the NBA Finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a great soccer player, definitely a top 5 player in the world. However, I don't like him...too much of a pretty boy attitude and acts like he's so much better than even his own teammates at times. But I'm a huge LeBron fan, I'd like to see him win a ring this year even though he hasn't done the smartest things off the court.
Is that weird???
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i disagree. i think ronaldo especially in the last few years has come up huge for his team especially club. for real madrid he has been the spark in games like El Clasico. When madrid was playing horrible as a unit ronaldo was working and creating chances still unlike his team mates. For country ronaldo has never been able to come to life like for club. why? idk. but i think that he has less confidence and because he is the real star player for country he feels that added pressure. But often compared to messi, who i would like to point out as the "greatest of all time" (sarcastically said) has done the same thing. He can not lead argentina to world cup or even the copa america glory! and his team is much more stacked the portugal, with aguero, teves, messi, higuain, lavezzi, mascherano, di maria. But i think ronaldo's clutch gene is greater than Lebrons, and equal to messi's.
ReplyDeleteI'm not debating that he hasn't come up big for Madrid because he obviously has. We all know that Ronaldo is a great goal scorer but you can't compare him to Messi when we're talking about creating scoring chances. Messi's definitely better than Ronaldo in that area which in my opinion makes him a better player. It's not like Ronaldo plays with a lot of scrubs at Madrid but I do understand that Messi plays with a lot more talent when comparing national squads. However, when talking about the "clutch gene" Ronaldo's isn't even close to Messi's. How many times has Messi hurt another team's heart? Particularly with Ronaldo on the other end. It even goes back to the huge deal everyone made about Messi v Ronaldo back in the 09 champions league final when Ronaldo was with Man U. I agree with some of your points somewhat but not all. I appreciate your insight.
ReplyDeletewhen you say ronaldo today was trying to make up for his personal mistake... were you watching the game?? Ronaldo was not being selfish in anyway. his team was giving him the ball every chance they got. Because he is the best european player and the captain. They look to him to carry the team. How much Does messi break a teams heart?? he doesnt, he scores goals the same way anyone does its the circumstances that break teams. And what how does ronaldo not create as many scoring chances? he scored 46 goals and had 12 assists, messi 50 goals, 15 assists and he has done nothing but improve every year since he moved to madrid... and at club Barca is just as if not more stacked then Real madrid. The only difference is their players are home grown and real madrid Goes and buys players. And the 09 champions league both players were still early in their careers and ronaldo did not carry manchester united. and messi didnt barca at that point. i mean do you watch Real madrid games and barca games? go look at how they attack. and how the players work. Ronaldo is the reason Madrid has had any sort of a chance in the last 2 years against barca.
ReplyDeleteNot one time did I say he was playing selfish. The man was just trying too hard like he had to make up for screwing things up TWICE. And this isn't the 1st time he forces the issue when his team looks to him to carry them. There's a difference between stepping up for your team and forcing the issue. And most of the time Ronaldo does that in big games. I'm not talking about the Mallorcas of the world, I'm talking about the big games. Since you're an expert on El Clasico then I'll point out that Messi always shows up in crucial moments of the game not only by scoring but by making plays for his team. Tell me what Ronaldo did last year in the Champions League semis against Barca...well I'll tell you that Messi scored twice (in the White House might I add). How about the Supercopa this past year, pretty sure Messi hurt Madrid's heart with a couple of minutes left right after Benzema tied the game. Ronaldo has done his share of big goals in the past couple of years against Barca but it's obvious that Messi makes more of an impact on the game than Ronaldo. Before this year, we all know that Barca had been dominating Madrid, and that's with Ronaldo on the team. The 09 Champions League was only 3 years ago so don't give me that whole "early in their careers" nonsense. If you remember correctly, the debate at that time was who the best player in the world was between the 2. And how can you say Ronaldo wasn't the man on his team when he had just come off back to back player of the year in the Premier League and a FIFA world player of the year? Of course he was the man for Man U and Messi was for Barca. I can go on and on about how Ronaldo screws up in crucial spots, that's why I compare him to LeBron. I could care less about season stats and everything because that's not the point I'm making. Tell me what they each do in big games. It's not even close as far as impact and production.
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