Ronaldo, Xavi and Iniesta

[The Godfather 71,874]

About 1 in 10 of his long range shots have a realistic chance of beating the keeper. Also, his freekicks have been dreadful this season.

Law of averages and all that.

He is well known for having a blistering and accurate shot on him and that's because he has a better rate of scoring with these long range effort than most other players.

It's hardly luck when he does it 10 or more times a season.

[blueboy94 54]

No doubt that when Ronaldo scores from distance it's worth taking the shot, but when you look at the statistics he has the by far the highest shots per game ratio in Europe. He obviously works on it at training but when you're taking so many shots per game he's bound to eventually beat the keeper.

It would probably be more beneficial to the team if he kept possession rather than continually going for the spectacular.

[blueboy94 54]

rather than this turning into a ronaldo v messi thread, which it seems to have done aleady... i'm taking a different slant

as the OP said, are ronaldo, iniesta and xavi unfairly underrated.

imo ronaldo, yes

iniesta, yes

xavi, no

the reason i say that is because people never talk about iniesta OR xavi. it's always iniesta AND xavi. as if they are the same. but watch barcelona play: yes both are great players. but it is iniesta who moves after passing, it is iniesta making the runs and it is iniesta telling players where to go. in my opinion, barcelona's amazing midfield would lose a lot more if iniesta isnt playing as opposed to if xavi isnt playing. just my 2 cents

Got to disagree, Xavi is the better player. They play different roles within the team, Iniesta has more freedom than Xavi and although everything you said about Iniesta was correct, Xavi plays the more stable position. He's the one who sets the tempo of the game and when Iniesta is playing without Xavi he looks slightly below his normal level of playing standard.

Both synchronising with each other is just brilliant to watch though.

[JamieD 18,932]

u think iniesta is better than ronaldo. WOW

Much better in the big games in particular.

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

pele

Ronaldo Zidane Messi

imagine seeing that running at you?

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

thats like saying 1 in 10 times messi tries to dribble past 4 defenders from the half way line result in a maradonna-esque goal, therefore it's lucky.

you can't discredit either player as being lucky, they have exceptional talent and put the hours in on the t

raining ground. I think its clear ronaldo spends alot of time on the training ground perfecting his ball striking technique, when it elevates so quickly then dips mid-flight before swerving late, it's no fluke, it's the technique he practices, and it pays off in games.

he's the first person i've seen strike the ball the way he does (others are now trying to copy) he seems to toe poke the ball above the centre, i've no idea how he gets it to lift hitting it like that, but he does. I would describe how the ball yravels, but i dont think i need to. We've all seen it.

[ScottBF2 3,540]

Both synchronising with each other is just brilliant to watch though.

That's true of most players in the Barcelona squad.

The thing that makes them all so unique is that usually a player knows what he's going to do before a defender, but Barcelona as a team know what any individual on their side is going to do before the defender. It's the understanding that makes them all so good, and they're unique in that aspect.

The best example of this is probably Pedro. Pedro isn't as good a player as Sanchez, Villa or Ibrahimovic: but he has a better understanding with the players around him than the three former. His technique isn't as good, he isn't as refined, but he works well in the team - and for that he's probably as important as any player in the side.

It's been highlighted a few times already when Barcelona buy players in, they're very hit and miss - more than the usual transfers in world football. Whether a player will be successful in the team doesn't depend on how good a footballer he is, it's how well he'll understand the players around him - but he'll have to be a semi decent footballer as well.

A few of the players could go into different sides and not play as well - I don't think that applies with Messi, he doesn't get as many goals for Argentina because he plays a different role.

[JamieD 18,932]

he's the first person i've seen strike the ball the way he does (others are now trying to copy) he seems to toe poke the ball above the centre, i've no idea how he gets it to lift hitting it like that, but he does. I would describe how the ball yravels, but i dont think i need to. We've all seen it.

He has been mentioned already but Juninho.

[Ricky_ 893]

He has been mentioned already but Juninho.

the technique is different. Juninho hammers the ball bit with a slight instep, the majority of his freekicks had left to right movement, like a slight fade if it were a golf swing.

Ronaldo hits the ball dead centre, both the centre of the ball in with the centre of his foot and focuses mainly on creating the evelation/dip. when you a strike a modern ball & dead ball with that kind of force it usually moves left/right, which make the flight of ball unpredictable, is freekicks tend to move late, in either direction, although most of the time it tends to take a late swerve to the right, like a draw in golf, which would suggest he ever so slightly cuts across the ball with the outside of the boot on the follow through.