Who is goat

The gauge for discerning who the GOAT is can vary, but some have highlighted Ronaldo's ability to excel in a number of different countries as a reason for placing him ahead of the Argentine. As well as that, the Portugal captain has lifted major honours with his country winning the European Championship in , a feat Messi has yet to achieve at senior level with Argentina he has won an Olympic gold medal and the Under World Cup.

The fact that Messi plays for Barcelona and Ronaldo played for Real Madrid added to the layers of the rivalry and served to fuel the debate, given that they were going head to head in El Clasico. The dominance of Messi and Ronaldo over the past decade has reduced other iconic football figures to mere afterthoughts, but plenty still lay claim to the title of GOAT.

Messi's compatriot Diego Maradona , a World Cup winner with Argentina in who shone at Barcelona and Napoli, is one example, though interestingly, Maradona considers Messi to be his heir and has proclaimed the Rosario native to be the greatest. Netherlands and Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff is another individual who is considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time. He won three Ballons d'Or during his career and was the creative force which drove Ajax on to three European Cup triumphs in the early s.

Cruyff's influence is still felt at Barcelona to this day, with the Dutchman dubbed El Salvador , or The Saviour, by fans of the Catalan club. When Messi and Ronaldo eventually hang up their boots, a void will emerge into which a pretender will step, and already a few stars are being touted as their successors. Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar has long been heralded as the natural heir to the throne of the GOAT, but injuries and poor form have taken the shine off his name in recent seasons.

Neymar's PSG team-mate - and World Cup winner - Kylian Mbappe cemented his status as one of the best young players in the world in , but he will have to maintain his high standards in order to earn the tag of GOAT. Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard , Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann have catapulted themselves into the vicinity of Ronaldo and Messi, but the feeling is that they will all have to raise their games in order to reach the same level.

The aforementioned stars have been earmarked, but there is always a chance that some phenomenon will emerge from the fog of obscurity and exceed both Messi and Ronaldo. That would require a gargantuan effort and may seem highly unlikely at this point. Article continues below. The G. Index is about far more than a score, for us it helps to settle a debate that has run for generations.

The shortlisted players then had to score highly against seven different categories to qualify for the final For each league victory, a player was awarded the UEFA coefficient for that particular season. The UEFA coefficient is used to determine the difficulty of winning a league title. Players were marked based on World Cup wins points and European Championship and Copa America triumphs points.

Brazilian Ronaldo earned the full points in this category, ahead of Pele 66 points and Maradona 54 points. This was calculated based on the total number of goals scored multiplied by the goals-per-game factor for that particular player. This was then multiplied by to give a percentage. Records including the most number of goals scored internationally, the most goals scored for a particular club or in a particular competition were used here.