[JOAL.com]

Ibra is very good in the champions league. He dominates the group stages

the knockouts on the other hand......

[Desecrated]

Its a legitimate comparison for using the 'Ibrahimovic is just a flat track bully' arguement on him, while 2 very different players. Ibrahimovic isn't what you'd call a conventional striker. He lies deeper on the field. So his goalscoring record shouldn't rival Muller, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo. When you factor in the statistics he provided for Ibrahimovic, shines very brightly for him. Sure, his teams haven't got far in European Cups. But hes won every league title he has competed for, and is probably beyond odds on favourites to win the Ligue 1 title. His goalscoring record is very consistent, provides a great number of assists.

People want players that can play in big games. But having players that run over the smaller teams, is always necessary. A way to guarantee 3 points. Park Ji Sung was a big game player. Was he a world beater? No.

[Henry Hill]

Originally Posted by Bananas

The funny thing is most of the English probably still think Rooney is better than him

Both should have had better careers given their all round talent. You're talking about two guys who can do everything supremely well on a football pitch. Amazing strength, vision and creativity.

I think Rooney suffers partly for England because there are so few proper footballers on the team. Him and Gerrard are the only guys with any real finesse or creativity. Rooney at his worse though is not even championship standard. And his piss poor attitude really lets him down too.

[Joel]

Rooney just seems to have days when nothing goes right for him at all. Not even that he can't be bothered. But it's like he has a brain fart and can't control a ball.

Ibra just seems to have days when he just doesn't give a shit and wants the 90 minutes to be up.

[Vader]

Who compared the two? Ibra is the more talented player but I'd still rather have Rooney, as at least I know if we're in the shit he'll get stuck in. I'm not going to mong it up though and say Rooney is better because if they're both on form then he probably isn't.

[Nige™]

I think it's safe to say neither are in Jordan Rhodes' league. They've got nothing on him, as has anyone else. What a legend he is, and he's Scottish!

[Seabs]

Originally Posted by I Curry I

Amazed to see the amount of people across the internet still shitting on Ibra and trying to claim Rooney is far superior.

Where did the Rooney/Ibra comparison come from? If it's aimed at me then I never said or implied that Rooney was an amazing player that's fantastic in big games because that wouldn't be true for starters. I'm not shitting on Ibra either btw if that was aimed at me. I've always said how much natural talent he has. He just doesn't implement enough in big games against the best oppositions which is really a fact if you look at his record in big games vs big teams.

Originally Posted by Bananas

It's commonly said that Zlatan has never succeeded/won the Champions League, and therefore may never be considered among the truly elite of World Football. Well let's do a little comparison with a recent striker that's often seen as the best striker of recent times, Ronaldo.

Neither have won the Champions League.

Ronaldo's goalscoring record in the Champions League: 14 in 40 games (0.35 goals per game)
Ibrahimovic's goalscoring record in the Champions League: 30 in 90 games (0.33 goals per game)

I was unable to find Ronaldo's assist number in the Champions League (I assume it would be under 10, he wasn't a supreme creator of goals), however Zlatan has 21 Champions League assists (which I presume would place him quite highly on the alltime assist leaders in the CL). So if you bundle that in, then Zlatan has a hand in 0.57 goals per game in the CL which is very respectable indeed.

So if you say Zlatan has never delivered on the highest stage in club football, and therefore can't be considered great, then neither can Ronaldo.

Obviously I'm not saying that Ronaldo isn't great, but just trying to show people that just because there have been big games when Zlatan hasn't performed, it doesn't mean he's not great by default.

Fat Ronaldo? In which case:

Originally Posted by Joel

Dumb comparison when Ronaldo starred in two straight World Cups and then broke the goalscoring record in his last.

[JOAL.com]

Ronaldo would have gone down perhaps as the greatest of all time if not for his stream of injuries

Its astonishing to consider how more brilliant he would have been if not for his knee. When he was fit, he had a barrage of goals

Ibra more or less has been healthy for most of his career

[Sleeper]

Joel and Seabs win the award for rubbish reading comprehension yet again. I wasn't saying Zlatan is as good as Ronaldo or that Ronaldo was a big game bottler or anything of the like. I was however debunking the myth that to be a top player you have to deliver big time in the European Cup, or indeed that Zlatan doesn't cut the mustard in Europe, depending upon your interpretation of the statistics.

[JOAL.com]

But he doesnt cut the mustard in europe

as a league player, id struggle to find a better player, and his record speaks for itself.

But as a champions league player, hes consistently underpreformed when needed, even though he was consistently surrounded by superb talent alot of the time . Ronaldo has his excuse for not winning a CL. Not to mention other accolades hes earned elsewhere

But the point still stands, when needed the man fails to deliver, consistently. Even vs Juve last season he got his ass kicked in the league games that decided the season. Useless vs Barca, useless when Barca needed him vs inter. Even last weekend in the top of the la liga game he got sent off

Something switches off with Ibra when needed. You coulda argue he is indeed just a bully of weaker teams or thrives when theres a lack of pressure. That diminishes him as a striker in my eyes.

It kinda reminds me of Didier back in his old days. Absolutely immense and beast of a striker, but he had a habit of getting sent off in huge champions league games for some reason. When he finally sorted out that problem, boom, won the title.

Not too late for Ibra to finally fix that final flaw in his armour