![[ESPNFC] Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar Jr’s International Stats.](https://alien.top/pictrs/image/bf00c9e0-8bde-4828-8b67-c9b1eb3f2bb4.webp){kind=link}
Neymar now holds the record for most international assists after his assist against Venezuela.
Landon Donovan had 58, and there was a post on here last month that didn’t show anybody else who had more.
Probs some weird shit like Nandor Hidekguti had 70 assists to Puskas alone in 1953
So what’s you’re saying is Donovan > Neymar Jr.?
According do joeDubstep Donovan is even better than Messi, lmao dude is delusional
Nah. The facts clearly say that Neymar > Landon Donovan.
But Landon Donovan > Lionel Messi > Cristiano Ronaldo
Donovan was unironically a pretty damn good NT player.
Real shame he sufferered from depression and took a sabbitcal after his loan at Everton.
Dude also trying to break the record for most party night before an international game.
Add to that, the fact that he faced mighty opposition in CONCACAF, like Barbados, Belize and El Salvador…
Can only play who your confederation is able to schedule.
Similarly, I’ve always wondered whether there has been an Ali Daei for assists in CAF or AFC who just didn’t have their totals counted at the moment.
World cups won?
38 of those goals was against Luxembourg or at the very least it feels like it… y u always gotta destroy us cristiano :(
Andorra here, he also hates us. The annihilator of andorra.
He did score that super hat trick once against Sweden
Just to note, some of ESPN’s statistics aren’t Opta based, so I don’t know exactly where they got their data from (probably Transfermarkt).
Opta stats:
Ronaldo has 34 assists, not 45.
Messi had 53 assists, not 56.
Neymar has 58 assists, not 59.
I’ve heard Lewandowski, Modric, Benzema, Suarez all have a better claim to 3rd greatest player of this generation over Neymar. Laughable. If you look at stats he passes with flying colors and if you do the eye test he passes with flying colors. He didn’t fulfill his potential I agree, but people talk as if he’s a complete failure.
Ridiculous statement. Can easily be argued that Suarez has been better.
I’ve heard Lewandowski, Modric, Benzema, Suarez all have a better claim to 3rd greatest player of this generation over Neymar. Laughable
It’s not. Neymar has been injured half the time since he left Barca, if you only count their prime years than sure.
All 4 of those players, and you can add Bale to the mix, were just much better for much longer.
Neymar is probably the most talented of them all, but he was just never available and failed his teams time after time.
Best ability is availability.
People push this narrative of him “not fulfilling his potential” I just dont follow. He’s all time top scorer for Brazil and ahead of Roando and Messi for assists! How, by any metric, is that unfulfilled potential? He’s been the heart of several lackluster Brazilian sides but really can’t do much more. The diving just pisses people off, which I get.
History will treat him better.It’s simply because he wins no big trophies while leading a team
You cannot get away from that fact
Same issue with Kane
This comment makes no sense. Looks at the trophy cabinets
Defenders and midfielders always get the rough end of the stick, as they don’t have the same stats to back them up.
Just look at Xavi. He was one of the greatest ever but gets criminally overlooked in these discussions as his role wasn’t really to get goals and assists.
Similar with Modric.
I like your argument more when you compare other forwards - in that case, Neymar has a good shout at being the 3rd best forward of his generation
Suarez has a very strong claim to be the third best player in this generation.
Not everybody can win a European Golden Boot in the Premier League and La Liga in the era where Ronaldo and Messi scooped up every individual award.
He is a Copa America winner with Uruguay too…
tbh imo even Neuer has a better claim of being the 3rd greatest of this generation over lewa, modric, benz and suarez
This is exactly true. Comparing a great attacker to the best goalkeeper to ever play the game just shows they don’t rate goalkeepers at all as if they’re not playing the same game.
Laughable that Lewa has been a world class #9 since 2012? Who genuinely has the case to have two Ballon d’Ors and has scored at an insane rate since going to Bayern? And also led his team to a treble which is more than anything Neymar has done without Messi?
The Barça’s Neymar yes, PSG’s Neymar not even close. He seems to deal better when he has better company to put him into confortable positions close to the box from the left (who would’ve guessed), but in Brazil and PSG they insisted to make him a 10 and he absolutely sucks in that position
Astonishing this. Literally every part of this comment is wrong.
Why do people have such strong opinions about players they clearly didn’t watch?
Idk what part of my opinion was “strong”, i’ve watched Neymar since his debut in Brazil as he played for my team here and i’m saying that he is a winger that finish the play, not a midfielder as he has been playing in NT and sometimes in PSG. Or you’re read my coment wrong or is too much sensible
The entire comment. Starting with saying he was a better player at Barça than he was at PSG (he was not, not even close) and then describing him as a player who needed players to supply him the ball in the final 3rd and then finishing off with saying he couldn’t play as a 10. Every single part of that comment was nonsense.
The best version of Neymar, the one we’ve seen at his peak playing for Brazil and PSG and who we got flashes of at Barça, has always been the one who had the freedom to be the team’s main playmaker. Even in Barça times we could see it. The Neymar we got at Barça was great, but he was limited by having to play a secondary role to Messi. Fewer opportunities to playmake and more responsibility of having to provide width and depth and make runs in behind. The Neymar we saw during every international break was the real Neymar. A devastating playmaker and dribbler and easily the 2nd best creative fulcrum (next to Messi) there’s been in the past 15 years.
Not a single person who actually watches Neymar thinks of him as someone who thrives best being on the end of chances. What you’re describing is a player like Mbappé or Cristiano.
Neymar won UCL and Libertadores, scoring in both finals and being ucl top scorer as a winger. He was fast, great dribbling and finishing with a shot or assist. Neymar as a 10 has no stats to back him, poor performance in UCL KOs except for 1 year and a mid performance with Brazil NT, he carries the ball to much and loses possession all the time as well as wasting many attacking chances by simpy not passing the ball, also can consistenly ping passes like Messi in this role. As a winger He was much more like a Ribery than a Mbappe or Cristiano, and was great at it, if we had a proper 10 in the build up with him in his natural position he would be 3x the player he has been
I’m not saying he wasn’t best as a winger, I’m saying he was best as a winger who with the freedom to be his team’s main playmaker. That’s the way he played in that Libertadores win, in almost his entire Brazil career, in Barça whenever Messi was out and at PSG.
That’s a difference from how he played as winger in that Barça treble season (where he was great, no doubt but that treble was about the entire front 3 fittin together and Messi having his peak season. Neymar himself had far from reached his best level). If anything during that treble season should be a reference for the best version of Neymar it’s the way Messi player in that free winger role. Receive the ball early and have all the freedom to dribble, pass, shoot, etc while other players are tasked with being at the end of your chances.
And as for him not being able to play the 10, look back one year. He’s done it for stretches in his career but that PSG stretch before the WC he was playing some of his best football ever pretty much all from that left 10 position.
Peak
I don’t want to sound like a hater, but without looking at the specific data, I’m pretty sure Ronaldo scored tons of goals against teams like Faroe, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, etc…
And Messi scored more than half in friendlies…
alá o chupa cu do neymar
Chupa cu ☠️
ronaldinho and now neymar, come on brazil stop wasting geniuses
Neymar with Brazil was nuts
Sadly for all his efforts he hasn’t won anything for Brazil. Not even a Copa America
2013 Confederations Cup.
2013 Confed Cup, brought an end to Spain’s reign in the Final in front of a home crowd at the Maracana. Miss that tournament, it was a bit unbalanced and quirky, but it would be more fun to watch than an expanded CWC. I remember how Tonga captured the hearts of the world.
Olympic gold? (they beat us in the final)
He won two olympic games.
Just 1. He wasn’t on the team for 2020
Olympics at least
if you think of neymar you see yellow & blue kit first, not barca, not PSG
Damn his knee is not even cold yet and ppl are using “was”
I would say neymar is the best international player ever after ronaldo, messi is probably a close 3rd
lmaoooo you L
cry7 is just a garbage player then?
8-5 CLEAR
MESSI IS THE WORLD CHAMPION
Lmao pendu is your 🐪
Are you crazy? Lmao
Stat wise maybe but Messi is the only one who played in 2 world Cup finals, winning one.
You mean Ronaldo Nazario?
I want to see their stats in major international tournaments.
In competitive internationals:
Messi: 124 Games, 57 Goals, 37 Assists, 94G/A, 0.46 goals per game, 0.76 G/A per game.
Ronaldo: 151 Games, 107 Goals, 25 assists, 132 G/A, 0.71 goals per game, 0.87 G/A per game.
Neymar: 58 Games, 33 Goals, 29 assists, 62 G/A, 0.57 goals per game, 1.07 G/A per game.
haha
What stat is missing?
Oh yeah, TITLES!! You know, the most important statistic in TEAM SPORTS!! Championships! Who actually won 🏆!!
Messi: 1 WC, 1 Copa America, 1 Olympic Gold medal & 1 Youth WC
Neymar: 1 Olympic Gold medal
Cristiano Ronaldo: 1 Euro Champion
All exceptional players, next.
He Should’ve never leave Barcelona
People take for granted Ronaldo’s stats but Portugal was not a football superpower that people think they might be today. Even today, they lack severely in defense and attacking options at the very top compared to teams like Argentina, Poland (currently under-performing) and Brazil.
It’s shocking that he and his team won the Euros at any point given Portugal have barely been an international side in all of their history.
Wouldn’t that make Ronaldo’s stats easier to obtain because he is on a weaker team? Basically, the ball always goes to him because others on the team aren’t as good; he simply doesn’t need to share the ball like Messi and Neymar
This is some next level crazzy take… Portugal were never powerhouses, but they have allways been competitive in the Ronaldo era, the early 90’s and 80’s were portugal weakest years, then we had Figo’s generation leading up to Ronaldo. Its just stupid comparing them to poland just cuz they have Lewa upfront .
Soso. With the golden generation, they did not qualify for any world cups in the 90s and went out in the group stage in 2002 (losing to South Korea and USA). They did well in 2004 and 2006 but that was already with Ronaldo. Before Ronaldo they only qualified for 3 world cups and 3 euros throughout their history. They were not really a powerhouse even with the golden generation tbf.
Poland?
That’s gotta be a typo
LOL, what? They have Felix, Rafael Leao, Bernado Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Ronaldo himself in attack. Not to mention young talents like Ramos. Is that what you called “severely lacking”.
??? Portugal have been an international side since 1921, and have placed in the top three at the 1966 WC, 1984 euros, 2000 euros, and got second in 2004. They aren’t Germany or Brazil, but it’s not like they’re Iceland. They’ve long been respectable.
That’s really inflating their tournament runs. They had only ever qualified for 3 World Cups before Ronaldo joined the team. They had made the semis twice in the history of the Euros but again had only qualified for 3 European Championships in their history before 2004. They are nowhere near the powerhouses that either Argentina or Brazil were and I don’t think it’s wrong to say they were not influential at all in World Cup football except for one tournament run. They were stronger in the Euros, yes, but they were not very present. It’s more down to the recent expansions and an explosion in Portuguese talent that has allowed Portugal to actually be regular tournament competitors.
A few days ago some portuguese dudes were claiming their national team was better than the Netherlands lol