Greatest Rivals - Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo

Welcome to Greatest Rivals!

Each Wednesday, this page will pitch two great rivals against each other to finally find out who the real winner is! Over the coming weeks, this page will cover many great rivalries, from the glory of el Clasico to the back and forth action of some of Wimbledon's finest performers. 

In order to determine a winner, each rivalry will be split into 2 categories: Statistical dominance and individual or team success. In case of a draw, the winner will then be elected from personal opinion. 

Wednesday 20th January - Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo 

I know. This is one hell of a rivalry to start on and is easily one of the biggest sporting questions of the century. Not only is this a topic shrouded in controversy and in-depth statistics but is also fairly unique as it is a question that can actually be answered. No matter what sport you look at, most of its fans define their greatest player of all time and put them up against a player from an entirely different generation in the sport (LeBron James vs Michael Jordan, Lewis Hamilton vs Michael Schumacher, Tom Brady vs Joe Montana). Due to the number of variables that each generation of sport possesses, you can never find a true answer to these endless debates and therefore each outcome is all based on speculation and personal opinion. However, in the case of football, Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the same generation for close to two decades and have produced a truly golden age of sport. Not only has this been great to watch for sports fans, but also has allowed sportswriters like myself to answer the big question with complete objectivity. 

So, let's start with the numbers. Over their entire career for both club and country, Cristiano Ronaldo has played in 19 seasons and competed in 1039 games. In that time he has scored 759 goals and provided 222 assists across 4 major clubs: Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus. On the other hand, Lionel Messi has played 17 seasons and competed in 895 games. In that time he has scored 719 goals and provided 302 assists, all while wearing the famed red and blue of Barcelona. As they are both attacking players, Messi is the clear winner when it comes to offensive output with 40 more goal contributions in 144 fewer games. Not only does this make him more efficient than Ronaldo, but also poses a much larger threat over the course of a whole season as not only is he able to rack up a large goal tally for himself, but is also able to find others with a limitless range of passes. 

Statistics Winner: Lionel Messi 

However, these numbers don't mean much if it's in a losing effort. Thankfully, both Messi and Ronaldo have been a major part of club successes in both their respective leagues and in further club tournaments such as the Champions League and Club World Cup. Nevertheless, Messi again finishes top of the pile in this rivals matchup, narrowly beating out Ronaldo with a total of 35 titles and 6 Ballon d'Or trophies. The Portuguese frontman does hold one record over his Argentine rival though, in that despite his numerous team changes, he has had his hands on the Champions League trophy on 5 occasions to Messi's 4. In fact, when it comes to the Champions League in general, Ronaldo has been the more consistent and effective performer and currently holds the record for the most goals scored in the competition (133). Furthermore, although both have frankly underperformed on the international stage with only one major trophy between them, Ronaldo takes another point from Messi's tally as he lifted the European Championship trophy with Portugal in 2016. 

I know, the water is a little misty over this one, but if you look at the grand scheme of things and what his impact has been over each winning season, it's hard not to pick Ronaldo in this category. However, the combination of a constantly expanding trophy case alongside his major contributions in both La Liga and world club football, Lionel Messi has to be picked as the more successful of the two footballing giants. As an individual, he possesses records that other players could only capture in video games and although his success at the club level has been halted in recent years, the sheer dominance of Barcelona under Messi's reign is something that cannot go unnoticed. 

Individual/Team Success: Lionel Messi  

At the end of the day, Messi and Ronaldo will go down in history as the single greatest player's in football's vast history. Their talent is something that is still yet to be found in the current upcoming generation of players and when their time finally comes to retire, it will be a truly sad time for all of sport. However, in terms of trying to separate them and determining the greatest between these two superstars, I think Mario Ballotelli says it best "Ronaldo will forever be the greatest football player on planet Earth, only because Messi is an alien". 

Overall Winner: Lionel Messi