Catlin Gabel students’ opinions on the highly controversial Messi vs Ronaldo debate

By Ayaan Sait ‘24

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi before an Argentina-Portugal Friendly Match in 2011 courtesy of Wikipedia

Messi or Ronaldo–who’s better? It’s a debate that has divided opinions globally, and even within our own school.

Both players are arguably the greatest players of all time. Individually, Messi has won eight Ballon D’ors, an award given to the best men’s soccer player globally every year. Ronaldo has won five.

From a team perspective, Ronaldo has won the Champions League a total of five times, four with Real Madrid and one with Manchester United. Messi has won it four times, all with FC Barcelona. They’ve succeeded on an international level as well, with Ronaldo most notably winning the Euros in 2016 and Messi winning the World Cup in 2022.

Ronaldo and Messi have inspired players globally, and their impact on the game can be felt even within our own Catlin Gabel School (CGS) community. Senior Sofiane Smahi, #7 on the Catlin men's soccer team, has been the most visual example of Ronaldo’s impact. After scoring a header at Catlin’s homecoming game vs rivals OES this year, Smahi ran and celebrated by doing Ronaldo’s signature “Siuuu.” It isn’t limited to just homecoming games though, whenever Smahi scores he always does the Ronaldo celebration, which many have called iconic.

“Basically, every single time I score, I'm thinking of Cristiano Ronaldo and I'm trying to shoot like Cristiano Ronaldo. I run like Cristiano Ronaldo, so everything I do is like Cristiano Ronaldo,” said Smahi. He also added that he had been doing the “Siuuu” celebration since he was “a little boy, a little baby.”

However, Smahi alluded to the fact that he was alone on the Catlin Gabel men's soccer team in his opinion that Ronaldo was better than Messi.

“I brush all those haters off. And every single one of them [teammates] is a hater, by the way. Just to let you know.” Smahi added “I have no allies on the Catlin soccer team. But, I will still keep my heart. I will be loyal to Cristiano Ronaldo until the day I die.”

To dig deeper into this debate, surveys were sent out to members of the CGS men’s and women’s varsity soccer teams for their opinions.

As can be seen by the graph, 81.3% of total respondents believed that Messi was better than Ronaldo. On the girl’s side, 100% of respondents from the women's varsity team believed that Messi was the better player, and on the men's team, 62.5% believed that Messi was better.

This was only a part of the story though. To truly gauge Catlin’s opinion on this ongoing debate, interviews were conducted randomly throughout the Catlin US student body. One question was asked: Messi or Ronaldo, and why?

Just like the survey before, most of the students interviewed answered Messi. “Messi is very technical, and has extended skill and can do everything,” said senior Owen Jones. Sophomore Luna Flores believed that Ronaldo was a “sellout” after his highly controversial move to Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

Junior Elise Kim also believed Messi was better, and stated that “He [Messi] did recently win the World Cup, especially so late in his career which is impressive.”

On the other hand, senior Tessa Hitchcock believed that Ronaldo was better because he “looked better and is stronger.”

Smahi said, “Out of every player who's ever touched the ball in the history of the game, if I had to put my life on the line on someone scoring a last-minute goal, or clutching up with a penalty, it'd be Ronaldo. I wouldn't even hesitate. Like, he's the only player you can trust.”

Smahi also theorized that “a lot of people do think Messi is the GOAT because they haven't seen prime Ronaldo.”

Perhaps Messi playing in the most viewed game on Earth allowed him to be exposed to more fans. Smahi said, “I mean, a lot of, like, new fans watched the World Cup 2022, and they haven't watched any other Ronaldo or Messi games in their life so that definitely created a lot of Messi fans who say they're fans of Messi, but they've literally watched like three games of him in their entire life.”

It is important to note that Ronaldo also played in the World Cup, but his nation Portugal, was eliminated in the quarter finals whereas Messi’s Argentina was the champion.

Ultimately, both fans are still able to respect the other side of the argument and the players. Junior Kaz Malhotra said “Ronaldo’s still a very good player and on par with Messi.”

Referring to Messi, Smahi said “I mean, I respect him. He's a great player.”

Based on the results of these surveys and interviews, it’s clear that the majority of Catlin Gabel students believe Messi is better than Ronaldo. Regardless, it’s clear both players have had careers that will be hard to replicate.