Former Liverpool and Real Madrid goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek has made his claim about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He believes that Messi is a systems player and excelled at Barcelona because of that. On the other hand, he says Ronaldo is rather someone who fits in anywhere.
Dudek stated, “Messi marked the way Barcelona played. Messi was a player in this system. Maybe Messi for Barcelona, but Cristiano can play anywhere, in any league, and I’m not sure Leo could do that. It speaks how strong Ronaldo is.”
Jerzy Dudek:
Messi or Ronaldo?
“Messi marked the way Barcelona played. Messi was a player in this system. Maybe Messi for Barcelona, but Cristiano can play anywhere, in any league, and I’m not sure Leo could do that. It speaks how strong Ronaldo is.” pic.twitter.com/W2S3btwoan
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) February 21, 2023
Lionel Messi notched up amazing numbers at Barcelona. In 778 appearances for the club in all competitions, he has scored 672 goals and provided 269 assists. He provided a goal contribution every 68 minutes at the La Liga club.
After moving to Paris Saint-Germain, Messi’s numbers have certainly declined. But, it would be immensely harsh to say that he is not succeeding there. He has scored 27 goals and assisted 28 in 61 total appearances. Here, he provides a goal contribution every 95 minutes.
When it comes to Ronaldo, in his two stints at Manchester United, he averaged 132 minutes per goal contribution. At Real Madrid, arguably the best time of his career, he averaged 66 minutes per goal contribution. It was 95 mins per goal contribution at Juventus and 64 minutes as of now at Al-Nassr.
Jerzy Dudek played at Real Madrid alongside Cristiano Ronaldo
Dudek has appeared in 385 matches throughout his career which spanned two decades. He kept a clean sheet in 143 of those matches. He started his career in the Polish third division for Concordia Knurów. He played one season in the Ekstraklasa when he played for Sokół Tychy in 1995/96. The Polish keeper then left his home country and joined Feyenoord. He enjoyed a good five-year spell there.
Later, came the big break of his career, when he joined the Premier League club, Liverpool. He had a very successful six-year spell at the club. Dudek won the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the UEFA Champions League. However, he moved to Real Madrid in the 2007/08 season and played second fiddle to Iker Casillas for the rest of his career.
Jerzey Dudek on Ronaldo:
“He was self-centered, incredibly competitive and a winner .”
[AS] pic.twitter.com/4jYCywvmrA
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) January 11, 2022
In his autobiography, according to EuroSport, Dudek stated, “[Real Madrid legend] Raul was a very arrogant guy, but in general, he was normal.
“Cristiano, on the other hand, was very self-centered but very competitive. However, he is an absolutely normal guy, but I understand that he can be perceived differently from the outside.”
He played only two La Liga games and eight Copa del Rey games in four years. Dudek was alongside some of the greats of the Real Madrid team including Cristiano Ronaldo. He retired in July 2011.