Gareth Bale Close To Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo? Dream On

Gareth Bale close to Cristiano Ronaldo? I don’t think so.

While it is understandable that Wales boss Brian Flynn likes to see Gareth Bale become as good as Lionel Messi, it made him look like a mad man in the process. Messi is a once-in-a-generation footballer.

There will be endless debates of who is superior, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. The numbers and statistics support Lionel Messi while the overall perception of Ronaldo is that he is the more complete footballer.

Well, as long as human beings are driven by emotions and personal preference, I don’t think we will reach an accord. I suspect if Messi was a Merengue and Ronaldo a Culé the supporters of both Barcelona and Madrid would have a different opinion of these two supremely gifted footballers.

The very least we can agree on is that the both of them are above the rest, maybe Arjen Robben deserves to be put in that bracket.

I am not above having a personal preference thus my pick would be—as expected—Lionel Messi. Even if I would argue numbers and statistics I suspect I’d still be accused of bias.

But that’s not the point here. My latest article Gareth Bale as good as FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi? Yeah, right.  has for the most part supported my claim that the Welshman, for the most part, is overrated.

Still, I read a comment which suggested that Gareth Bale is close to Cristiano Ronaldo, so I decided to write an article to disprove this ridiculous idea. I’m not slamming the opinion of my fellow community member, it’s just more convenient to write an article as opposed to one very long comment.

The thesis goes a little like this: “in the last two months I have seen better finishing from Bale, better runs on the wing and definitely better one-touch passing with Van der Vaart.”

Well, in the last two months Gareth Bale scored seven goals (in all competitions).

http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/gareth-bale/leistungsdaten/spieler_39381.html

Let’s take a look at Ronaldo’s numbers during the same period. In his last 10 games, Ronaldo has scored 16 goals.

http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/cristiano-ronaldo/leistungsdaten/spieler_8198.html

I think there goes the argument.

Better runs? Even Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon can run. What’s the point of running when there is no end product. Now let’s analyze the assists both players provided for their respective teams.

Gareth Bale has six as opposed to Ronaldo’s eight. Hmmm, is it just me or does Ronaldo outperform Bale in every department?

Now let’s compare Bale’s 2010/2011 statistics with Ronaldo’s statistics from 2006/2007 when he was 21.

Ronaldo finished the season with 23 goals and 17 assists in 53 games. In between the sixth and 28^th match day of the EPL he went on to score 15 goals, a ratio better than one in two.

http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/cristiano-ronaldo/leistungsdaten/spieler_8198.html

How can someone suggest that Bale is even remotely close to Ronaldo?

I guess the constant hype in the media has brainwashed the general public to actually believe that Gareth Bale is a world-beater.

What happened to consistency? Is it too much to ask for a prolonged time of continuous performance at the highest level and not just two months?