With his recent World Cup victory, many soccer fans around the world have foolishly decided that Messi is the greatest soccer player of all time.
His success is almost immeasurable, having won 1 Ligue 1 title, 10 La Liga titles, 4 UEFA Champions Leagues, 3 Club World Cups, 7 Copa del Rey trophies, 3 UEFA Super Cup titles, 6 Golden Shoe Awards, 1 Golden Boy, 2 FIFA best Men’s Player awards, seven Ballon D’Ors (awarded to the best player in the world), 3 UEFA Best Player in Europe awards, 9 La Liga Player of the Year awards, 1 Under-20 World Cup, 4 La Liga Player of the Season awards, 1 Copa America trophy, 7 Spanish Cups, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Olympic Gold Medal, 1 French Super Cup, 1 CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions, and 1 World Cup. Messi’s accolades seem to reveal his dominance in the game.
Who is the GOAT?
However, one player trumps Messi’s talents: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Despite Lionel Messi’s achievements, Ronaldo remains elusive in the GOAT debate. His social media status as the most followed human on Instagram easily solidifies this. Throughout his career, Ronaldo has amassed an army of over 526 million followers.
The casual fan might question: “Why are Instagram followers, who could have easily been bought, more important than actual game statistics?” To the unenlightened soccer fan this is a reasonable concern. However, we experts know Instagram followers are a key factor to GOAT status.
For an athlete to be the GOAT, they need to be dominant in all aspects of their sport. For soccer, these include assists, goals, wins, titles and accolades. Additionally, a player’s ability to influence the game is a measure of a player’s success. An athletes’ ability to change the way people play and bring new fan to the game is an important aspect of the GOAT status. Eventually, these shifts in play style evolve the sport to a new level. An improved level. Not only will the skill level of the game increase because of one player, but also young talent will idolize this figure. These movements will solidify a player’s legacy, establishing them as the Greatest of All Time.
The only statistic that can measure this aspect is social media following. One of the largest social media platforms in the world is Instagram, averaging two billion monthly users. Ronaldo’s presence on Instagram as the most followed human in history easily proves his influence over the next generation of soccer players. Messi’s following of 415 million is nothing compared to Ronaldo’s 526 million follower army. This proves beyond doubt that Ronaldo is the best player ever.