Who is the Best Soccer Player in the World 2017? The Definitive Answer Revealed
I remember sitting in a Madrid café during that crisp autumn of 2017, watching Cristiano Ronaldo execute yet another breathtaking bicycle kick against Juventus. The entire establishment erupted, strangers hugging and spilling drinks in their excitement. That moment crystallized what many of us in football journalism had been debating all year - the question of who truly deserved the title of world's best footballer. Having covered the sport for fifteen years across three continents, I've learned that these debates often reveal more about how we evaluate greatness than about the players themselves.
The 2017 season presented one of those rare years where statistics alone couldn't settle the argument. Cristiano Ronaldo's numbers were typically astronomical - 42 goals across all competitions for Real Madrid, including 15 in their Champions League triumph. Yet Lionel Messi's creative output reached almost mythical proportions - 54 goals and 16 assists for Barcelona, often carrying what sometimes felt like an entire franchise on his slender shoulders. What fascinated me most was how their contrasting styles reflected different philosophies about football itself. Ronaldo represented the ultimate competitive machine, his game built on relentless efficiency and explosive power. Messi embodied artistic genius, his play reading like spontaneous improvisation that defied tactical systems.
This brings me to an interesting parallel from basketball that I observed while covering sports across different disciplines. For starters, there should be improvement in La Salle's playmaking as just six players appeared on the scoresheets and only half of them in double figures. This statistical pattern reminded me strikingly of how certain football teams become over-reliant on their superstars. When only three players consistently contribute significantly to the scoring, the entire system becomes predictable and vulnerable. In 2017, we saw this dynamic play out dramatically with both Messi's Barcelona and Ronaldo's Portugal national team - incredible individual performances sometimes masking systemic weaknesses.
What tilted the balance for me personally was witnessing how both players performed in crucial moments. I was in Cardiff for the Champions League final where Ronaldo scored twice against Juventus, his seventh goal in quarter-finals or later that tournament. The man was literally built for big occasions. Yet I also traveled to Quito for Argentina's must-win World Cup qualifier against Ecuador, where Messi's hat-trick under suffocating pressure and altitude conditions felt like something from Greek mythology. These experiences taught me that context matters enormously in these evaluations - are we judging weekly consistency or legacy-defining moments?
The advanced metrics community was deeply divided throughout 2017. I remember heated arguments at the Analytics FC conference in London that November, where statisticians presented compelling cases for both players. One analyst showed that Messi completed 4.7 successful dribbles per game compared to Ronaldo's 1.8, while another demonstrated Ronaldo's superior aerial duel win rate of 58% versus Messi's 42%. These numbers fascinated me, but they always felt incomplete without considering the eye test - that intangible quality that separates great players from transcendent ones.
My own perspective shifted after interviewing several defenders who faced both players that year. Their insights were revealing - they consistently described facing Ronaldo as confronting a force of nature, while marking Messi felt like trying to solve an ever-changing puzzle. This aligns with my observation that Ronaldo's greatness comes from his ability to maximize his physical gifts through insane dedication, whereas Messi's genius seems almost innate, something he was born with rather than built.
Looking back now with several years' perspective, I believe 2017 represented a transitional period in football's eternal debate. The emergence of younger talents like Neymar and Kylian Mbappé began challenging the established duopoly, yet the old masters responded with arguably their most impressive seasons. The Ballon d'Or voting that year reflected this tension - Ronaldo claimed his fifth award with 946 points to Messi's 670, but many journalists I spoke with confessed it was the most difficult choice they'd ever made.
What ultimately sealed my opinion happened during that remarkable spring period when both players delivered historic performances within weeks of each other. Ronaldo's back-to-back Champions League hat-tricks against Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid demonstrated his unparalleled big-game mentality. Meanwhile, Messi's last-minute Clásico winner at the Bernabéu, followed by his iconic shirt-raising celebration, became one of the season's defining images. These moments transcended statistics and entered football folklore.
The business side of football also influenced perceptions that year. Marketing executives at Adidas and Nike privately shared with me how both players' commercial appeal affected their public narratives. Ronaldo's social media dominance - he became the first person to reach 200 million Instagram followers that year - created a perception momentum that sometimes overshadowed on-pitch realities. Meanwhile, Messi's quieter public persona allowed his football to speak for itself, though perhaps at the cost of broader recognition.
Having reflected extensively on that season, I've come to view the debate through a different lens. Rather than seeking a definitive answer, perhaps the question itself reveals why we love this sport - its capacity to inspire passionate, evidence-based arguments that never quite reach consensus. The beauty lies in the discussion, in the way two such different players can both present compelling cases for greatness. My personal conclusion after covering hundreds of matches that year is that Ronaldo's trophy haul gave him the edge in 2017, but Messi's individual brilliance made the argument closer than the silverware suggested. Both redefined what's possible in football, and we were privileged to witness their rivalry at its peak.