Football fans of the current generation are lucky to be living in an era where technology allows them to watch the superlative talents of the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who are probably the best players to have ever graced a football pitch.
What also sets this era of football apart is the advent of technology which allows games like FIFA 17 to come into being which enables football enthusiasts to play as their favourite players in their favourite teams. This also means the recreation of the Real Madrid-Barcelona rivalry on virtual battlegrounds; which also entails the further continuation of the eternal debate about who is the better player, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Also Read: El Clasico: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, who is better in FIFA 17?
On FIFA 17, at least, the Portuguese had the upper hand after the launch of the game as he was the best player in the game, rated at an overall of 94 while Messi was at 93. After the latest updates, however, Messi has taken the upper hand with a rating of 95 while Ronaldo has maintained the same rating.
Both players have their special attributes which set them apart and these shine at different points in time.
There are some areas however where one gets the better of the other and while we do not make a mistake and risk the wrath of fans by claiming that one player is the better one, in this article, we do list out those attributes where Lionel Messi just happens to destroy Cristiano Ronaldo on FIFA 17.
#1 Composure
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi seem to possess the coolest heads in world football when in on goal. There is nobody else you’d rather have one-on-one against an opposition goalkeeper than either of the two, who between them scored more than a century of goals last season.
On FIFA 17, however, there is a huge difference between the composure levels of the two. Messi has been given a game-high composure rating of 94, a ranking which he shares with German ace Philip Lahm.
Ronaldo on the other hand does not even feature in the top ten most composed players in the game with a rating of 86, which is fair given that he is prone to throwing moody fits when things do not go his way on the field and is often seen letting loose a frustrated shot from distance that leaves teammates exasperated.
Messi has always been the calmer of the pair, always seeming to have that fraction of a second more time to react than his opponent, resulting in embarrassing nutmegs or laser guided passes while Ronaldo has transformed himself into something resembling a scientist who has perfected the formula for scoring goals and accomplishing little else. Surround Messi with five defenders and he or the ball will get through, put Ronaldo through the same and it is likely that neither of the two will be able to make it.
#2 Freekicks
Once upon a time, Cristiano Ronaldo used to terrorise opposition goalkeepers from free-kicks, especially during his time as a flying winger in the red half of Manchester. The Portuguese has scored many a memorable free-kick, including that strike against Portsmouth which left then England stopper David James for dead. Another unforgettable free-kick was the 40-yard thunderbolt in the Champions League knockout rounds against Arsenal in the 2008/09 season where the Red Devils won the Champions League.
Barcelona’s little Argentinian, however, was not known for his dead ball abilities in his earlier days with the Catalan giants but has developed it over time with dead ball masters like Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Villa mentoring him. Now a consistent threat from dead balls, Messi has been scoring all kinds of free-kicks – under the wall, the dipping kind, the knuckle ball and other techniques which guarantee the ball crossing the goal line.
EA Sports have rightly taken into account the Portuguese’s slowly fading free-kick abilities and given him a free-kick accuracy ranking of 76; it seems like it’s been ages since he scored one. Messi has been quite deadly with the dead ball in the last few years and maintains an unerring free-kick accuracy to receive a rating of 90.
#3 Balance
In his younger (Manchester United) days, Cristiano Ronaldo was the worst nightmare for full-backs. Blessed with the quickest feet in football, he would use his agility and balance to wriggle himself and the ball past players and ride those hard, English challenges that came his way with ease. Able to stay on his feet under the most extreme pressure, the Portuguese, at one time, was one of the quickest and most agile players on the planet, which is not the case anymore.
Lionel Messi, on the other hand, retains his low centre of gravity which allows him to get past players with nothing but a simple, convincingly swivel of the hips that leaves defenders off-balance and stranded.
The Argentine’s extraordinary balance which allows him to twist and turn past defenders has not yet deserted him with age and he still seems to have the same boundless enthusiasm and stamina to get past players that he did a decade ago when he scored that Maradona-esque wonder goal against Getafe.
Cristiano Ronaldo has turned into more of a No .9 who will get into positions and wait for supply rather than create goals himself. This has caused a significant drop in his balance as he just does not show that attribute often enough anymore. Ronaldo has changed drastically as a player and this explains his FIFA 17 balance rating of 63 which is significantly lower than his rival who is one of the best in the game with a rating of 95.
#4 Passing
Let’s be honest, nothing about the behaviour of Cristiano Ronaldo even remotely suggests that his game is about passing the ball around. That was always meant for the lesser mortals like Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta who plied their trade for FC Barcelona and passed the ball around at speed so they could avoid being tackled.
Even at Manchester United, Ronaldo was never admired for his passing stats but for his scintillating dribbling skills with which he often frustrated teammates as much as he did opposition defences.
Lionel Messi, on the other hand, has grown up passing the ball for breakfast, lunch and dinner at Barcelona’s La Masia, along with ball retention masters like Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta and it is no surprise that passing the ball with a certain degree of authority comes naturally to him.
It is in no surprise that Lionel Messi receives a short passing rating of 88 while the Real Madrid man is lower down the order at a respectable 81.
#5 Curve
As with the above attributes, Cristiano Ronaldo is significantly behind Lionel Messi when it comes to using finesse and curling the ball into the far corner of the goal. Ronaldo does cut in from the left flank to shoot, but those shots that do go in are bullet shots packed with power rather than caressed into the net by wrapping his feet around the ball, something which Lionel Messi seems to be able to with ease.
The Portuguese’s ability to curl the ball is rated at an ordinary 81, something which has led to a corresponding decrease in his free-kick ratings as the curve is essential to putting the free-kicks into the net.
For Messi, wrapping his foot around the ball to curl it into the far bottom corner of the net is nothing but a supremely well-developed reflex honed over the years. He has been captured on video putting a ball into the net from behind the goal. That is the level of ability the man has.
As a result of this, the Argentine’s ability to curl the ball is rated at 89, which is one of the highest in the game.
