Brazilian Ronaldo of 1998 - How good was he?

[Slog]

To those who saw him play how would he have done in the modern game?

Also what the heck happened in 1998 WC final? There are a few conspiracy theories

My friend says that the Ronaldo who won the WC of 2002 was just a shadow of the one pre-2002. I think it has to be exaggeration

 

[sshakir411]

He was by far the fastest person on the field. There's a very good documentary on him I think it's called el fenomeno. He suffered a lot from injuries throughout his career but somehow managed to keep going. Apparently before the 98 final he got very sick and played the game under severe pressure. During his time he was one of two most feared footballers along with Zidane and highly rated by his peers.

 

[Asim_khan]

The best I saw him was his one and only season at Barcelona, he was incredible. I'd say that version of him was there best player I ever saw.

IMO He was already on his way down by 1998, Italian players would just hack at him, and referees would turn a blind eye, which kinda slowed him down, he was no longer taking on whole teams and by the World cup Defenses no longer feared him like they did in previous years. He allegedly had a panic attack at night in his room according to Roberto Carlos, who was sharing with him and that was what led to the conspiracy theories.

Edmundo (think Diego Costa on steroids) was picked over him, only to be removed, which didn't go down to well with Edmundo.

 

[King-Misbah]

He was a very clinical finisher as he had pace and shot accuracy!

 

[Kianig89]

Not better than Brazilian Rinaldo of 2002

 

[Yossarian]

1. Better than C. Ronaldo
2. Suspicious. Don't believe in the 'panic attack' official version.

 

[IAJ]

Amazing player, I was myself active player at the highest youth level here back then and he was my favourite from Brazil. The speed and control was amazing.

 

[PetroDollars]

I remember when he was at Inter and they played MU in the champions league, every time he got the ball our hearts were in our mouth, boy, i never seen such a threat on a football field. However after 98 he was on his way down, injuries took over and 2002 Ronaldo was defiantly a shadow of his former self.

The first time i ever saw him was at the 96 WC and he made a destructive partnership with Romario, its very unfortunate his career was so short lived due to injuries, same goes with Ronaladinho.

 

[Super Santi]

Great player, probably the best of his generation.

He was at the 94 WC and I think he was a sub, not sure he played at all.

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

Ronaldo prime before knee injuries was a monster. The best ever and if he played today without injuries he would outshine Messi and Ronaldo. Even after his ugly injuries he was still one of the best players in the world. Just watch what he did at old trafford. Ronaldo at Real Madrid was past his best, but still world's best striker.

He was definetly is Messi Ronaldo league if not better.

 

[LongHorn]

I struggle to think of any other well-known player who showed such a post-surgery decline in pace, control, and little bit in finishing as well.

And yes, it is the post surgery version of Ronaldo who scored that old trafford hat trick and the 8 goals in WC2002.
Pre surgery, he was a monster.

In the 1998 semi final with Holland, who incidentally outplayed Brazil, Stam kept him in wraps for 119 minutes. The only time he was beaten by Ronaldo for pace, was the time he scored their goal in the 2nd half.

And just like we talk about batsmen of the 90s having to face stronger bowlers, strikers in the late 90s had to face far better defenders as well; Nesta, Maldini, Stam, Ayala, Thuram, Desailly to mention some

 

[TQ89]

The best man. Those were the days when I used to watch football a lot. Then came 1999 wc and i switched to cricket.

I consider his performance in 2002 and sachin in 2003 as best tournament performances by great players that i have seen

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

I don't quite follow football but I remember my football friends used to talk a lot about a Ronaldo and someone name Carlos well before Messi and C.Ronaldo became a phenomenon.

Were they any good ?? Did they win anything significant ???

 

[kingusama92]

He was the first footballer I was able to pick out as a child.

Amazing skill.

Speed, strength, and sublime control.

In the all-time rankings Ronaldo might have to be content with a place on the second tier, just below the total-genius level occupied by Pele, Maradona and Johan Cruyff, though in terms of being good at what he was required to do, Ronaldo could stand comparison with the very best.

 

[shaz619]

Incredible, arguably the greatest ever and 10x better then current argentinian chokers

 

[shaz619]

Ronaldo inspired generations, he just made it look so easy and he had this aura about him, even the casuals and non footy fans loved to watch him dominate. Growing up he made me fall in love with the game

 

[Heisenberg]

People who think he was better than Messi in his pre ACL days are just overrating the past like we all are guilty of from time to time. Definitely a more talented player than his namesake though but Cristiano will go down as a better player simply because of his longevity which has been absurd. Just compare him to the likes of Ronaldinho and Kaka who were the best in the world at a point but couldn't do it for as long as him. Messi is just unlike anything football has seen and will ever see. Longevity with genius.

 

[LongHorn]

People who think he was better than Messi in his pre ACL days are just overrating the past like we all are guilty of from time to time. Definitely a more talented player than his namesake though but Cristiano will go down as a better player simply because of his longevity which has been absurd. Just compare him to the likes of Ronaldinho and Kaka who were the best in the world at a point but couldn't do it for as long as him. Messi is just unlike anything football has seen and will ever see. Longevity with genius.

it is one thing to do it against Pepe, Boateng and Kompany, and another to do it against the likes of Nesta, Stam and Maldini.
Defenders of the 90's were a tougher breed to play against.

 

[Heisenberg]

it is one thing to do it against Pepe, Boateng and Kompany, and another to do it against the likes of Nesta, Stam and Maldini.
Defenders of the 90's were a tougher breed to play against.

The same Nesta, Stam and Maldini who bottled a three goal lead in 6 minutes in a champions league final?

Also wasn't Cannavaro in defence when a teenage Messi scored his first el clasico hat trick?

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

The same Nesta, Stam and Maldini who bottled a three goal lead in 6 minutes in a champions league final?

Also wasn't Cannavaro in defence when a teenage Messi scored his first el clasico hat trick?

Messi should not be underestimated. He is a genius in his own right, but stop playing Ronaldo down.

In his prime Ronaldo played in Seria A - the best league at the time and main focus in that league was on tight defence and still Ronaldo dominated and played exceptional football and he hardly had world class exceptional players in his team. He suffered some ugly knee injuries that kept him out of the game for years and still he came back and won the world cup.

Messi played against a Canavaro well past his best. Maldini and Stam were also on his last legs in the CL final, but that was an incredible game. Hard to explain what happened, but Milan already thought they won and were celebrating at half time.. So complacency cost them..

However I don't agree that defenders were better in the 90's - That's just a rubbish statement. We have had great central defenders recently as well John Terry, Rio Ferdinan, Ramos, Pepe, Pique, Boateng, Hummels, Godin and so on.

Of course Maldini was an exception and probably the best of them all, but that does not mean defenders were better generally.

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

No doubt current Ronaldo and Messi has achieved more, but my point is if old Ronaldo played at the same time as Messi and current Ronaldo and was injury free then I have no doubt who will win most Balon D'ors.

 

[Kianig89]

Ronaldo Rivaldo Batistuta Maldini Kluivert Zidane Desailly Raul Heirro Figo top brass of 90s

 

[Rana]

I think he would be valued at around £300M in today's market

 

[Protea Fan]

The peak brazilian ronaldo was good as any football player in history there was a reason why he was called Ronaldo The phenomenon.A football striker would typically need three broad set of skills at very high levels to be considered to be exceptional. In most cases even the best of them do not have these sets of talent together. They are speed with the ball at your feet,superb ball control including dribbling skills and be able to beat a goal keeper or a defender on a one-on-one situation.If a player at top level has these set of skills he would be an exceptional striker.

The brazilian ronaldo exhibited all these skills at the very high levels. That's why he was known as "Fenomeno". He was absolutely astounding at that time with his speed because of his superb ball control skills and almost every time, on a one-on-one situation he beat the last defender or the goal keeper. As a result he had almost unbelievable goals per game stat during this period. Unfortunately in his later years he was blighted by knee injuries which curtailed his speed and took away one of the most important arsenal in his set of skills.

In terms of sheer talent peak Luis Ronaldo would trump almost all modern day footballers which includes both CR7 and messi but when it comes to greatness the latter two will outclass almost everyone in history simply with the consistency,efficiency and obviously unreal longevity.Ronaldo el fenomeno was better than messi and cristiano before injury and would have been the best in history if his knees didn't give out but if anybody who rates Brazilian Ronaldo better than CR7 and messi is either living in nostalgia or didn't following the ongoing generation of football

 

[Protea Fan]

it is one thing to do it against Pepe, Boateng and Kompany, and another to do it against the likes of Nesta, Stam and Maldini.
Defenders of the 90's were a tougher breed to play against.

You are just overrating the past.First of all brazilian ronaldo didn't played his every match against maldini,nesta or stam there were awful defenders that time too.Footballers like messi and cristiano scored against defenders of last 10-15 years and they are still scoring.I would have definitely pick 15 years of unreal consistency than 2-5 years of peaks.No disrespect to brazilian phenomena though

 

[finalfantasy7]

Remember mourinho who was a assistant manager at barca called him the greatest player ever. He had everything - as mourinho said

 

[Red Devil]

I don't quite follow football but I remember my football friends used to talk a lot about a Ronaldo and someone name Carlos well before Messi and C.Ronaldo became a phenomenon.

Were they any good ?? Did they win anything significant ???

That generation of Brazillian footballers were like the great Aussie team. So many ATGs in one team.

 

[PetroDollars]

You are just overrating the past.First of all brazilian ronaldo didn't played his every match against maldini,nesta or stam there were awful defenders that time too.Footballers like messi and cristiano scored against defenders of last 10-15 years and they are still scoring.I would have definitely pick 15 years of unreal consistency than 2-5 years of peaks.No disrespect to brazilian phenomena though

It is human nature to over rate the past, and even though defenders were tough in the past the physical side of the game has gone up.

 

[Heisenberg]

Messi should not be underestimated. He is a genius in his own right, but stop playing Ronaldo down.

In his prime Ronaldo played in Seria A - the best league at the time and main focus in that league was on tight defence and still Ronaldo dominated and played exceptional football and he hardly had world class exceptional players in his team. He suffered some ugly knee injuries that kept him out of the game for years and still he came back and won the world cup.

Messi played against a Canavaro well past his best. Maldini and Stam were also on his last legs in the CL final, but that was an incredible game. Hard to explain what happened, but Milan already thought they won and were celebrating at half time.. So complacency cost them..

However I don't agree that defenders were better in the 90's - That's just a rubbish statement. We have had great central defenders recently as well John Terry, Rio Ferdinan, Ramos, Pepe, Pique, Boateng, Hummels, Godin and so on.

Of course Maldini was an exception and probably the best of them all, but that does not mean defenders were better generally.

Ronaldo was the player that made me fall in love with football so trust me I know..

Messi also plays in the best league in the world with and against the best players in the world. I think what he is can't be compared to anyone else and over that scale of time. Could you honestly say Ronaldo was a better goalscorer, dribbler? Maybe equal at best. And then there's a whole other level to Messi's game. Make no mistake, Ronaldo was a genius but it's not really a comparison. Cannavaro might have been past his best but Messi was an inexperienced kid then. Much like Ronaldo, at 18, they are the best teenagers I've ever seen. Ronaldo was probably better. You know maybe he could have been better than Messi if it weren't for the ACL injuries but it played out differently. We know it's not easy to stay at the top when someone as disgustingly talented as Ronaldinho can't stay there for more than a couple of years.

It's good that you agree on the defender part. People conveniently ignore how much more tactical the game is and defending is more about the whole team now. Sometimes even 11 behind the ball.

 

[MMHS]

The greatest No. 9 in the history of the game. In a 4231 system, he is the ultimate of that 1. At his best, he was a mix of Messi & CR with or without ball at feet, on air or with both feet - add to that the power of Ibra and positional sense of Geard Muller.

Unreal - He would have scored better than a goal/match in the time when average WC matches produced 4+ goals/match. He was simply unstoppable when fit and focused.

 

[msb314]

One of the greatest strikers ever.

Injury ruined him but his time at Barcelona and Inter showed how incredible he was.

IMO he was already declining by 2002 and when he joined Real Madrid. By 2006 he was a shadow of himself.

Pace, power, technique, dribbling - he had everything...

 

[LongHorn]

It's good that you agree on the defender part. People conveniently ignore how much more tactical the game is and defending is more about the whole team now. Sometimes even 11 behind the ball.

which only supports my point. Defending is about the whole team now, which means that central defenders get much more support from the midfielders or even strikers.

In earlier years, you often had teams where the central defenders had to "defend" with less support from the others.

Teams in the 90s had strikers like Romario, Batistuta, Shearer, Cole and Salas/Zamorano; who were not expected to contribute to defending in any meaningful way, whatever they did was a bonus. Nowadays a striker who strolls about when the team is defending in not seen in a good light unless it is Messi, and even he does more "defending" than Romario/Batistuta ever did.

 

[LongHorn]

The greatest No. 9 in the history of the game. In a 4231 system, he is the ultimate of that 1. At his best, he was a mix of Messi & CR with or without ball at feet, on air or with both feet - add to that the power of Ibra and positional sense of Geard Muller.

.

Actually, he was weak in the air, just like ThierryHenry, and that was his only weak point. He was not bad, but weaker in headers than Shearer/Batistuta/Vieri/Klinsmann , and of course Marcelo Salas, who was a remarkably good header for someone only 5'8"

Which is why you would often seen him just tilt forward or back so he could control a ball with his chest and then shoot instead of having to head.

For the ultimate 1 in the 4-3-2-1, I would pick Batistuta over Ronaldo, simply because of his finishing and shooting ability with both feet and powerful headers.

 

[Heisenberg]

which only supports my point. Defending is about the whole team now, which means that central defenders get much more support from the midfielders or even strikers.

In earlier years, you often had teams where the central defenders had to "defend" with less support from the others.

Teams in the 90s had strikers like Romario, Batistuta, Shearer, Cole and Salas/Zamorano; who were not expected to contribute to defending in any meaningful way, whatever they did was a bonus. Nowadays a striker who strolls about when the team is defending in not seen in a good light unless it is Messi, and even he does more "defending" than Romario/Batistuta ever did.

How does it support your point? Let's assume that the likes of nesta were twice as better as the best defenders today. How do you calculate the better fitness levels, more evolved tactics and the 'extra' defenders - what net effect does it have? If anything, the current Ronaldo is who would potentially be affected by better individual defenders knowing he is a poacher since his balloon obsessive days began. Messi plays much deeper and hardly needs to come up against the defenders directly to run the show.

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

Actually, he was weak in the air, just like ThierryHenry, and that was his only weak point. He was not bad, but weaker in headers than Shearer/Batistuta/Vieri/Klinsmann , and of course Marcelo Salas, who was a remarkably good header for someone only 5'8"

Which is why you would often seen him just tilt forward or back so he could control a ball with his chest and then shoot instead of having to head.

For the ultimate 1 in the 4-3-2-1, I would pick Batistuta over Ronaldo, simply because of his finishing and shooting ability with both feet and powerful headers.

Batistuta was not better than the likes of Raul, Ruud VanNistelrooy, Inzaagi etc. Definitely a great striker..

 

[MMHS]

Actually, he was weak in the air, just like ThierryHenry, and that was his only weak point. He was not bad, but weaker in headers than Shearer/Batistuta/Vieri/Klinsmann , and of course Marcelo Salas, who was a remarkably good header for someone only 5'8"

Which is why you would often seen him just tilt forward or back so he could control a ball with his chest and then shoot instead of having to head.

For the ultimate 1 in the 4-3-2-1, I would pick Batistuta over Ronaldo, simply because of his finishing and shooting ability with both feet and powerful headers.

I think Ronaldo Lima was quite good in air, far better than Henry, but not top notch like Bierhoff or Klinsmann or Batistuta. Actually, he was so good on grass that, his heading skills were over looked. Another thing is, his positional sense was brilliant, which allowed him to tap in (by head) many times, hence we haven't seen too many diving headers from him. But, power, precision, placing was there and he had the capability for high standing jumps till his knees gave up. He played for an outstanding Brazil team that made 3 WC finals, winning 2 and they were outstanding on keeping the ball on grass, rather than floating the ball from flanks, hence we didn't see many headed goals from Ronaldo in that golden shirt, but he had some of the best headed goals for Real, Barca & Inter. Besides, you'll hardly see him caught off side on floating ball, because of his positional sense and last moment acceleration.

There should be some YouTube clips of his heading, that number isn't insignificant, but yes, Batigoal was better in air. On shooting skills, I think among contemporary CFs in last 30 years, Van Basten was the best.

 

[LongHorn]

Batistuta was not better than the likes of Raul, Ruud VanNistelrooy, Inzaagi etc. Definitely a great striker..

Different types of strikers ....

Raul used to float all around the third half of the pitch, but was not a number 9

RVN and Inzaghi were typical poachers, neither had a left foot, just as Raul did not have a right foot.

Batistuta had a powerful shot with both feet and could finish calmly as well

 

[LongHorn]

Different types of strikers ....

Raul used to float all around the third half of the pitch, but was not a number 9

RVN and Inzaghi were typical poachers, neither had a left foot, just as Raul did not have a right foot.

Batistuta had a powerful shot with both feet and could finish calmly as well

In a 4-3-2-1, I would have Batistuta

In a 4-4-2 partnership with someone pacy such as Henry, I would have RVN/Inzaghi

And Raul would be best as part of a front 3, or as a number 10 just behind a poacher

 

[Heisenberg]

How does it support your point? Let's assume that the likes of nesta were twice as better as the best defenders today. How do you calculate the better fitness levels, more evolved tactics and the 'extra' defenders - what net effect does it have? If anything, the current Ronaldo is who would potentially be affected by better individual defenders knowing he is a poacher since his balloon obsessive days began. Messi plays much deeper and hardly needs to come up against the defenders directly to run the show.

Twice as better. Whoops

 

[Asif khan]

Force of nature and alongside Messi the most naturally gifted footballer I have seen. His old buddy Romario wasn't too bad either.

 

[mani1]

He was very very good injury cut his prime short.
I read somewhere he rates Zidane as the best player of his generation.

 

[Vayuu]

Not better than Brazilian Rinaldo of 2002

Kahn was at its peak and ronaldinho make absolute mockery of him.

 

[IMMY69]

An absolutely amazing player who suffered from hyper thyroidism which was only diagnosed at the very end of his career.

 

[big_gamer007]

At his peak he was probably the best player to have ever played the game.. Sadly players like him don't have much large peaks due to high probability of injuries barring some..