Messi vs Ronaldo – Who is the GOAT of Football?

Every sport in this world is fuelled by a great rivalry between two greats, whether it is Federer vs Nadal in Tennis or Prost vs Senna in motorsports. They are the ones that define the sport and add a extra layer of meat to its global narrative. For football, after Pele vs Maradona, it has always been Messi vs Ronaldo, a generational rivalry that is arguably between the two best players of the history of the sport.

The careers of both of these players took off in the mid-2000s, but it was from the early 2010s when Lionel Messi became a star at Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Real Madrid with a weight of expectations, a rivalry began between them and has been continuing ever since.

As both of them were playing in similar positions, representing two different sides of arch rivals who play at the highest level, this rivalry has been propelled forward by media, fans and other contemporaries of the sport, with almost everyone having a preference.

Despite all of that, both of them have reached unscalable heights in this sport, creating mind-blowing records that will stand still for generations. Their exploits have inspired a new generation of players who aspire to reach their level.

But who is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of football? Some say it is Messi, some say it is Ronaldo. In this article, we try to present all the data available about both of these players for you to decide.

Messi vs Ronaldo Stats

To get an idea of the magnitude of each one’s career, we need to have a detailed look at their statistics. Here’s a look at Messi vs Ronaldo stats. Playing for some of the biggest clubs in the world, they have always accumulated huge amounts of goals, assists, records and trophies.

So, we will consider their appearances, career goal tally, the variety of goals that they have scored and how important they were in the playmaking aspect. Taking all of these into consideration, we can get a clear picture of how they have utilised their abilities to the full extent.

Messi vs Ronaldo Career Goals

Messi and Ronaldo are arguably the greatest goal-scorers of all-time. Their unprecedented goal-scoring rates turned into a competition amongst them, which made them better. Right now, it is Cristiano Ronaldo who has the most goals in his career, but he also played more games than Lionel Messi. Every football fan eagerly waits for Messi vs Ronaldo match.

Over their entire careers, Messi has the ratio of 0.78 goals per game, whereas Ronaldo has scored 0.73 goals per game. If we convert it into goals per minute, Messi scores a goal every 105 minutes, and Ronaldo scores a goal every 112 minutes. The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo played a majority of his early career as a winger who was not a traditional goalscorer needs to be considered. Of all the categories, goal-scoring is the hardest to separate.

Name	Appearances	Goals
Lionel Messi	1095	858
Cristiano Ronaldo	1275	934

Messi vs Ronaldo All Goals

When we consider goals, some additional context is also needed. The way they score the goals and how they are distributed in their career is important. Lionel Messi scored 78% of penalties in his career, whereas Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 84.5% of penalties. Both of them have stepped up in crucial situations and converted these, and both of them have had humiliating moments from the spot too.

At the peak of their powers, it seemed like Messi and Ronaldo were scoring hat-tricks every other week. They’ve scored a mind-boggling 125 hat-tricks between them in their glittering careers. Their hat-tricks are almost equally distributed, with Messi scoring a hat-trick for every 18.5 games, totalling 59, whereas Cristiano scores one for every 19.3 games, totalling 66.

Their free-kick record is almost equal now but during early days, Cristiano Ronaldo had a reputation for scoring some outrageous free-kicks, especially at Manchester United. However, his ability to score one slowly dwindled and nowadays, he doesn’t have the same credentials. Messi, however was not known for this ability during the initial stages of his career, but later on became one of the best free-kick takers.

While Lionel Messi comfortably edges out Cristiano Ronaldo on outside the box goals, the difference between these numbers started to grow after Cristiano drifted into a poacher role in the later stages of his career.

In addition to this, Messi is known for scoring outrageous goals by beating defenders on his own with his dribbling and close control. Cristiano, on the other hand has a reputation for scoring some of the insane acrobatic goals that one has ever seen.

Name	Hat tricks	Penalties	Free Kicks	Outside the Box Goals
Lionel Messi	59	110	66	97
Cristiano Ronaldo	66	174	64	69

Messi vs Ronaldo Assists

Lionel Messi is known to be more of a playmaker than Cristiano Ronaldo, racking up an impressive 381 assists in 1091 career appearances. His vision to create chances out of nowhere made Barcelona one of the best teams on the planet. Cristiano’s numbers are impressive too, assisting 257 times in 1272 games, but they only look small in front of Messi.

Lionel Messi’s assist against the Netherlands in the quarter-final of the World Cup was probably the best football assist. Cristiano Ronaldo had his most assists in a match in the Premier League against Aston Villa on March 29, 2008, with 3 assists.

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Messi vs Ronaldo Trophies

The trophy cabinet of both of these players is exquisite, considering the level of teams they’ve represented in their career but currently, Lionel Messi has the overall lead as he has won 45 trophies in his career whereas Cristiano Ronaldo possesses 35 trophies.

Internationally, Messi has now won the Copa America twice and the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, whereas Ronaldo has won the Euros with Portugal in 2016 as well as a Nations League trophy in 2019.

Messi has 12 league titles (13 including the MLS Supporters’ Shield) to Ronaldo’s 7, but Ronaldo has league titles in three of the top five leagues with different clubs. Cristiano Ronaldo leads over Messi in terms of Champions League wins, with 5 to 4. Messi vs Ronaldo trophies always come up as a major topic of discussion.

Name	League Titles	Champions Leagues	Domestic Cups	International Trophies
Lionel Messi	13	4	7	3
Cristiano Ronaldo	7	5	6	2

Messi vs Ronaldo Achievements

Many individual awards celebrate the legacy of the player and reward him for his excellence. But, the awards that hold a lot of weight are the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year. The race between Messi and Ronaldo for the Ballon d’Or tally was a treat to watch. Initially, Messi breezed past Ronaldo, having a lead of 4-1, but Cristiano caught up with him so fast and tied it 5-5. In the end, Messi overtook him again, with a current lead of 8-5.

Excluding the years when FIFA World Player was merged with the Ballon d’Or, Lionel Messi won the award four times, whereas Cristiano Ronaldo came out victorious thrice. In addition to these awards, Lionel Messi has won the European Golden Shoe award six times, compared to Cristiano’s four times.

In international tournaments, both of these players have excellent achievements, but Lionel Messi edges him out here. Messi has won the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball twice (2022,2014) and the Copa America Golden Ball twice (2021, 2015). Messi vs Ronaldo Ballon d’Or competition is now almost over.

The significant individual achievements of Cristiano Ronaldo’s international career include winning the UEFA Nations League Finals Golden Boot in 2019 and the UEFA Euros Golden Boot in 2016. He is also the recipient of the Puskas award, a trophy given for the best goal scored during a calendar year. Unfortunately, Messi has so far failed to win this award despite being nominated 7 times.

Messi vs Ronaldo Records

The individual recognitions both of these players have received are second to none. Both have a wide variety of records, which makes it harder to compare. One of the most jaw-dropping facts about Lionel Messi is his Guinness World Record for scoring 91 goals in a calendar year in 2012.

To put this into context, Messi’s next best is 60, and Ronaldo’s best is 69. To score 91 goals in a year is otherworldly, a record that would take an eternity to get broken. Messi also holds many records at the domestic level, with the most league goals scored in a single season (50 goals) and most consecutive league matches scored in world football (21 matches, 33 goals).

Cristiano Ronaldo, however, rules the Champions League, often nicknamed “The King of UCL.” His name is in almost every attacking category in the record books, topping the charts of most goals, most assists, most free kick goals, most hat-tricks (shared with Messi), and most goals in a single season. Messi vs Ronaldo records are always on trend and are searched by several football fans. Messi vs Ronaldo comparison has been a part and parcel of life for football fans.

At International level, Ronaldo is the all time top scorer with 136 goals, whilst Messi is the highest scoring South American of all time with 112 goals.

Messi vs Ronaldo Playing Style

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, despite having similar numbers, have different play styles. Lionel Messi started his career as a touchline winger who could dribble comfortably. Then, he transitioned to play as a false-nine under Pep Guardiola and then slowly shifted to an inside forward from the right.

He has an eye for the goal, and at the same time, he sees plays that no one else sees and creates chances out of nothing. However, his work rate has been questioned by pundits and fans on some occasions, but players of his calibre are usually not known for it.

Cristiano Ronaldo also started as dynamic winger at Sporting and early stages of Manchester United. He slowly transitioned into a goal-scoring role and after joining Real Madrid, he became a fantastic inside forward from the left. He has an ability to score any kind of goal and was known to pull his team out of trouble in unsavable occasions. In the later stages of his career, he is now a free-roaming centre-forward, utilising his finishing ability to the fullest extent.

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Messi vs Ronaldo Head to Head

With Lionel Messi representing Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo representing Real Madrid for a big chunk of their careers, both of these players were often playing against each other. They met on other occasions too, when Ronaldo was at Manchester United and Juventus.

Excluding friendlies, both of them played against each other 34 times, with Messi winning fifteen times, Cristiano winning ten times and sharing a result nine times. Their goal tallies when they played against each other are very similar, with Messi scoring 21 times and Ronaldo scoring 20 times.

Most of the football fans compare Messi vs Ronaldo head to head stats. Ronaldo’s impact in the comeback of Real Madrid against Juventus was phenomenal. Messi’s impact in El Clásico is worthy of praise.

Conclusion

In the end, there is no doubt that both of these players are legends of the sport, outperforming their peers by a significant margin. This rivalry between them made both of them better and has entertained everyone. It is impossible to determine who is better as different individual has different sets of priorities and requirements to set their preference. So, we tried to present all the data and information for you to decide amongst yourselves.

Messi vs Ronaldo is always a topic of debate among the fans worldwide. Be it Messi vs Ronaldo stats, Messi vs Ronaldo trophies, or even Messi vs Ronaldo head to head statistics, it’s up to the fans to decide this debate.