I also love Yagudin. But I love him more for "The Man in the Iron Mask" than for his winter performances. It's something special!
But Plushchenko is better, at least because he has brilliant performances, artistry, and his skating is like a performance on stage.

Plushchenko's artistry is a bit superficial – it's all about his facial expressions and hand movements, but that's the easiest and most understandable thing for the average person. He isn't particularly good at expressing emotions and feelings with his whole body, unlike Yagudin. To put it simply, Plushchenko is a poser. And that's exactly why people love him. It's a paradox...

But Yagudin earned his Olympic "gold" and left. It was as if he admitted that he no longer had the strength or anything else to compete.

He won everything he could, and there was objectively no one left for him to compete against. But Plushchenko stayed, because he really wanted that coveted Olympic "gold."

In general, it's a long and, in my opinion, pointless debate... Both of them have their fans and admirers.

Both of them really do have fans and admirers, but we're talking about who was the better ATHLETE, not the better SHOWMAN