User talk:Aneroti2584/sandbox

Players football
There was an odd moment during the ceremony last month awarding Cristiano Ronaldo FIFA's Ballon d'Or award, and it wasn't the Portuguese striker's meme-worthy scream in celebration of being recognized as the best soccer player in the world (for the third time). It was something else: a heartwarming meeting between Ronaldo’s son and Lionel Messi in which the four-year-old greeted the Argentinian with nothing less than visible awe—a video of which has since gone viral. It was especially poignant considering the constant mudslinging between both players’ fans, who are constantly embroiled in a debate over which star is better (there's even a site dedicated to it), instead of acknowledging the sheer excellence of both of them. In fact, Messi and Ronaldo (who turns 30 today) are beginning to look like the two best players in the history of the sport.

That statement may induce heart palpitations in longtime fans of the beautiful game but, barring a sudden career collapse on either side, Messi and Ronaldo will go down in history as the two greatest players to have ever graced a soccer pitch. And as their careers approach their final acts, with the awards and accolades piling up higher than Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts stash, any statements decrying this claim will increasingly be impossible. A statistical examination of both players, who've been peaking for almost a decade now, reveals just how far ahead of their peers—and some of their predecessors—they are. Aneroti2584 (talk) 14:04, 5 February 2018 (UTC)