A wide winger was never built to be football's top scorer ever. A wide winger was never built to be football's top assister. That is the job of strikers. In his first 200 games, Ronaldo only scored 89 goals. He was not a striker. He was a trickster. A kid doing stepovers on the wing while the striker waited in the box. That is why the goals per game ratio argument is a lie. Messi has been a striker, a false 9, the main man since he was 13 at La Masia. He was born in front of goal. Ronaldo spent his first 5 years as a wide winger. Built to cross, track back, defend. Scoring 0.45 goals per game while Messi was scoring 0.79 from day one. Today Ronaldo sits on 981 career goals, Messi on 934. So take away Ronaldo's entire childhood as a winger. Take away 200 games of his life where he wasn't even trying to be a goalscorer. And his second career, the one that started at 27 as a pure monster, STILL has more goals than most strikers will ever dream of. He saw Messi win an award for scoring the most goals in a calendar year, then he took it personal. He outscored him for 4 consecutive seasons. And that's when people started saying football isn't about goals. Because when Ronaldo was finally ready, when he was finally ready to compete with Messi in his own craft, he beat him to it.

This is not arrogance. This is a fact so let check. What does COMPLETE mean? Complete does not mean most talented. Complete does not mean best dribbler. Complete means you can do EVERYTHING in football at an elite level. And only one player in history can. Let's break it down: Left foot? 150+ goals with his left. Messi can't say that about his right. Right foot? 550+ goals. His main weapon. Head? 150+ headed goals. The greatest header of the ball ever. Jumps 2.93m, hang time, power. Messi has 30 headed goals in his entire career. That's not complete. Free kicks? 64 free kick goals. Long range curl, knuckleball. Penalties? Clutch. Champions League finals, Euros. Weak foot, strong foot, head, free kicks, long shots, tap-ins, overhead kicks. Cristiano has scored every type of goal. Bicycle kick vs Juventus, header vs Sampdoria, knuckleball vs Portsmouth, solo run vs Getafe. Name me one type of goal Messi cannot score with his head? He can't. Name me one way Cristiano can't score? You can't. Complete means complete everywhere. Top scorer in England - where pace and power matter. Top scorer in Spain - where technique matters. Top scorer in Italy - where tactics and defence matter. Top scorer in Champions League - 7 times. Top scorer for his country - all-time international top scorer with 130+ goals. He won league titles in 3 countries, Champions League with 2 clubs, Euros with Portugal, a team that never won anything before him. What is incomplete about that? Messi is complete in one system Barcelona, tiki-taka, short passes, 4-3-3, on the ground. Take him out of that system and put him in Stoke on a rainy night or against prime Serie A defenders, he disappears. We saw it at PSG - 32 goals in 75 games. Cristiano is complete in ANY system. Counter-attack at United, possession at Real, defensive at Juventus, crossing at Portugal. He adapts, he scores. He earned the right. 950+ career goals. 5 Ballon d'Ors. 5 Champions Leagues. Played 20+ years at the highest level. Never protected by a club. Built himself from Madeira streets to Manchester to Madrid to Turin to Saudi. No academy built for him, no Xavi and Iniesta feeding him for 15 years. So when he looks in the camera and says "I am the most complete player ever" - he is not asking for your opinion. He is telling you what real ball knowers already knew since 2014. You don't have to believe him. You just have to know football.