Earlier in r/soccer I got into a conversation with this guy about who the better dribbler is between Messi and Ronaldinho. Mind you we were talking about dribbling and not skills, tricks and showboating.
I claimed that Messi is the better dribbler as he has much much much higher volume, better success/completion rate, and his dribbling is much more direct using which he can go past the entire team and even finish his moves. Messi's dribbling also ends up in shots, key passes, goals and assists much more than Ronaldinho's ever did according to stats.
He said he thinks Ronaldinho is the better dribbler because Messi cannot take on multiple defenders at once and he needs space to go past them one after another after another. He also said he has seen Ronaldinho get out of a crowd of 5 players at the same time (not one after another) and Messi is just not as good in tight spaces, which he values more. When I asked him to provide a single clip of Ronaldinho being marked by 5 players at once and getting out successfully he was unable to do so.
I showed him the following clips as evidence of Messi dribbling past 5-6-7 players-
https://youtu.be/xdG2uiFv-7I?si=_lpdDYM0JOEgGSRz
https://youtu.be/CSSGqzsM4B0?si=6HX6fU7CXegCbZxO
After watching the clips he said Messi at most went past 2 players in these clips and this is not actual dribbling. I found his opinion laughable at best and dangerously delusional at worst so I asked him to pose the question here and see if people think he is a clown. He refused and said I should do it but I wouldn't cause I know I am factually wrong. So I pose the question to you guys- Did Messi only dribble 2 players in these clips and I am just the most delusional football fan in the world, or am I actually right?
Btw I have all the respect in the world for Ronaldinho. One of the if not THE most skillfull player in the world with the best showboating skills, and a great great dribbler as well. But I also believe there are levels to this and Messi is actually a level above when it comes to just pure dribbling in the truest sense of the term.
by Infinite-Fail-6835