Football
Chris Wright, Toe Poke writer 5y

Toe Poke Daily: Sergio Ramos' tattoos: stuffed rabbit, a football pitch, tribute to Banksy

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JUMP TO: Messi vs. Ronaldo: The definitive answer

Sergio Ramos has accrued a veritable portfolio of tattoos over the years, with various ink now covering the vast majority of his body.

After captaining Real Madrid in their win over Celta Vigo, Ramos took to Instagram to present a guided tour of the myriad tattoos on his left leg.

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As well as an assortment of motivational quotes and maxims, there are numerous random images dotted about the place -- each with varying amounts of personal significance.

On his left thigh alone, Ramos has a quill and inkwell, the image of his son's stuffed rabbit, a football pitch, tributes to Banksy and Salvador Dali, several references to his hobbies, and pictures of Mort & Phil -- a popular Spanish cartoon series.

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He also has a tattoo of Michael Jackson from his "Bad" era.

According to AS, Ramos has also reserved a space on his right calf where he intends to have a picture of his injury-time goal in the 2014 Champions League final.

Nice to know there's still a bit of room available for new additions.

This also gives us the opportunity to revisit our list of the greatest football tattoos. And, of course, it features Sergio.

I suppose if you've got so much free time, it can be easy to spend it getting one tattoo, then another, and another, and anoth......

Messi vs. Ronaldo: The definitive answer

Who is better, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? It's the eternal question that has plagued football fandom ever since the dawn of time -- well, since 2005 or thereabouts.

Both have scored hundreds of goals, both continued to delight fans the world over; both have won all there is to win, sent records tumbling, have five Ballon d'Ors apiece and ridiculously envy-inducing trophy cabinets, etc.

The diplomatic answer has always been that we should all simply count ourselves lucky to have lived through an era in which two undeniably brilliant greats have been pitted against each other.

However, thanks to a team of computer scientists from Belgium, a truly definitive answer to the "Messi vs. Ronaldo" quandary has been found.

Indeed, according to a formula devised by professors at KU Leuven university, and their partners at Dutch data company SciSports, Messi is clearly the most valuable player in the world today.

The aforementioned formula takes into account every action a given player performs during a match -- passes, tackles, interceptions, dribbles, shots, assists, goals, etc -- and calculates a "Valuing Actions by Estimating Probabilities" (VAEP) score.

Having analysed both players' data from 2013-14 to the end of the 2017-18 season, Messi emerged with an overall VAEP score of 1.21 per game, whereas Ronaldo lagged way behind on 0.61.

"In the first seasons, Messi and Ronaldo's scores are very close to each other," said PhD student Tom Decroos, a research assistant on the project. "From the 2015-16 season, Messi has stepped away from his rival."

There you have it, in black and white. Lionel Messi is officially better than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Consider the matter closed.

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