Up for Debate: Ronaldinho Best of the Decade?

World Soccer Magazine, a publication based in England, recently took it upon itself to claim that Ronaldinho was the best of the current decade.

Not best from 2003 to 2007 or any rubbish like that. BEST OF THE DECADE.

My early ideas for a retort didn’t seem to stretch past a casual ‘LOL’ or a not-so-casual ‘ROFLMAO.’ However, for the sake of ‘professionalism’ I suppose I’ll attempt to dissect my side of the argument.

There will be those who argue that Ronaldinho had been performing well at Paris Saint Germain. This has been duly noted, and then tossed out the window since PSG failed to win anything. Even then, Ronaldinho’s productivity was laughable at best.

It was not until he joined a collection of superstars in Barcelona that he began to deliver. He nearly doubled the goal-tally he amassed in his last season in Paris during his first season in Spain. Yet, once again, his first season in Spain was leaving his trophy cabinet (if he even had one built) filled with cobwebs as Barcelona failed to win anything.

It was not until Champions League winner and Jose Mourinho protégé Deco joined the ranks from FC Porto that Ronaldinho and FC Barcelona became capable of winning the league. This of course is where I shed my skin as an impartial journalist, rip my business shirt Superman-style and reveal a red glowing Portugal jersey underneath.

When Deco joined Barcelona, then-manager of the Portuguese National Team and 2002 World Cup winners with Brazil, Scolari famously quipped that the partnership he would form with Ronaldinho could ‘make rain fall.’ Of course, everyone knows that Deco never achieved the popularity that Ronaldinho reached, however this is due in large majority, to the fact that Deco is a simplistic player as his nickname suggests. I could quote from a host of legends who say that the most fundamental component of football is to keep things simple, which is the hardest thing to do, but I don’t want to get drifted away into a whole different debate altogether.

Instead, I’d like to offer up ideas for players that could be considered the best of this decade.

Before I button up my business shirt and hide my Portugal jersey. The name that has been on everyone’s lips for quite a few years now comes to mind. Cristiano Ronaldo, the man that can make rain go skywards. You can make a decent claim that he has been among the best players if not the best in the world since 2005 or 2006. He already boasts one more league title than Ronaldinho, as well as two league cups and an FA Cup, whereas Ronaldinho has never won a league cup. His Champions League credentials are the same as Ronaldinho as they both have managed to win the competition only once. In addition, it should be well-noted that Cristiano Ronaldo along with Lionel Messi are the only players who were in the podium for the Ballon d’Or on three separate occasions during this last decade. But let’s put this trophy talk aside and get to the filet mignon of this juicy comparison.

We’ve all seen that infamous Nike commercial where Ronaldinho hits the woodwork four consecutive times in a controlled manner about 100 times by now. That’s cool. I, on the other hand, have watched Ronaldo put the ball in between both posts, under the crossbar, and against the net over 135 uniquely different times. Interesting fact to chew on, Ronaldinho since 2000, with two more seasons under his belt than Cristiano Ronaldo, can only manage to match that. I would love to offer up a comparison in the form of an assists record, but for reasons beyond my control, such statistics are not readily available for either player.

Give me a minute while I button-up.

Moving forward, or rather sideways I suppose is more correct, we have the preacher-man himself, Kaká. Perhaps the thinking in bringing Ronaldinho to AC Milan was that Kaká would have introduced Ronaldinho to the path of humility and a deeper relationship with God, which could possibly curtail his night-life antics which have been the focus of the tabloids as early as his days in Paris. This wasn’t the case, however, and during the season that they played together in Milan there were several reports of Ronaldinho’s all-night dancing, no doubt by himself because the kind of woman that would dance with Ronaldinho is not found too often. Looks aside, or, actually, no, let’s keep talking about looks. Kaká looked much better than one of the world’s greatest dribblers in his last year at AC Milan. Not one person can argue this. With regards to the trophy cabinet, this is the only department where Ronaldinho can claim superiority, however minute, since Kaká only managed to win the Serie A title once with Milan.

While we’re in Italy, let’s venture into Torino, where we are presented with Pavel Nedvěd, Alessandro del Piero (who we will get to in just a minute) and one of the best goalkeepers of all time Gianluigi Buffon. Now, via the fact that he’s a goalkeeper, we can discard Buffon from the running. So that leaves us with probably the only man Juventus could’ve possibly bought to replace Zinedine Zidane. The fact that Nedvěd has played 19 consecutive seasons as a professional might just say everything you need to know. Not only was he a wonderful passer of the ball with a sense for the goal, but he was also a defensive presence for Juventus, something which can not be said for the other attacking players mentioned. Nedvěd has five or three league titles depending on if you’re a bianconeri or not, which is an impressive haul no matter how you look at it, and qualifies Nedvěd as one of the better performers this decade.

Now we come to the only knight that can be up for consideration. I am of course talking about Alessandro del Piero. He boasts the same club trophies as Nedvěd, though he was unable to ever capture the Ballon d’Or like his Czech counterpart. Known for his goal-scoring exploits, del Piero was one of the few superstars Juventus were able to keep a hold of during their time in Serie B.

Now we turn our attentions to two men who will go down as legends of the game. Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo.

What can possibly be said about Zinedine Zidane that hasn’t already been said? He’s the perfect combination of simplicity and complexity. He had an amazing vision as a player, making him one of the very best passers of the ball, something that shouldn’t come as a surprise from a man who has won the FIFA Player of the Year award on three separate occasions, a feat only matched by the Brazilian Ronaldo. His dribbling was also something to admire. Zidane was capable of making the hardest tricks look relatively effortless. Like Ronaldinho, Zidane managed the ever-difficult quadruple, which consists of winning the World Cup, the confederation’s cup (in this case the EURO competition), a league title and the club’s confederation cup (in this case the Champions League).

Many will be quick to point out that Figo is getting a mention because he is Portuguese. Let me assure you, that is not the case. He is one of the most technical dribblers the game has ever seen, and in his earlier days, this combined with his pace made him nearly unstoppable. With six league titles collected in this decade making him one of the most decorated players of all time, let alone this decade, only Oliver Kahn can claim to match Figo’s trophy cabinet. A former Ballon d’Or winner, Figo captained Portugal for a majority of this decade, only losing the arm band upon his retirement from international football in 2006. He even survived the unthinkable move to Madrid from Barcelona, that alone says something. To say that Ronaldinho is the player of the decade ahead of Figo, is the equivalent of saying that Jesus is more influential than God in heaven, or substituting Jesus with whichever prophet or messiah you believe in. (Unless you’re atheist)

I’m not going to include Lionel Messi in contention for best player of the decade because he only has three seasons worth talking about. Yes, I know, he has as many league titles as Ronaldo. Yes, I also know he has more Champions League trophies than Ronaldo. Yes, I know he just won the Ballon d’Or. Yes, I know he just saved a kitty from a tree. This does not outweigh the fact that he did not play as a starter for the majority of the decade, if he continues to play at his current level during just five years of the next decade, feel free to ring me up in 2019 assuming those pesky Mayans weren’t correct with their predictions.

Honorable mentions: Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Michael Ballack, Francesco Totti, Roberto Carlos, Paolo Maldini, and Oliver Kahn (see argument against Buffon)

Paulo Pincaro is an up and coming football analyst who previously wrote for the LusoAmericano newspaper based in Newark, New Jersey and can be contacted via email at: PauloNewYorker@yahoo.com. You may also become a fan and keep up to date with the newest headlines on FaceBook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Paulo-Pincaro/199479401891?ref=ts

Tagged as: AC Milan, alessandro del piero, Barcelona, cristiano ronaldo, del piero, figo, La Liga, ligue 1, lionel messi, luis figo, messi, Nedvěd, Pavel Nedvěd, psg, ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Serie A, zidane, Zinedine Zidane