Messi vs Ronaldo

Messi Vs. Ronaldo

Welcome to WatchMojo, and in this installment of Versus, we’re putting Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo to – hopefully – settle the debate on just who’s the best modern-day soccer player.

For this list, we’ll be looking at various categories for the superstars to examine who comes out on top in each round.

Are you Team Messi or Team Ronaldo? Let us know your allegiance below!

Round #1: Assists and Goals

Kicking off with the crème de la crème of a battle between the two biggest names in world football-soccer. Statistics. Cold hard facts will help us here. For this one, we’re going to just focus on their club activity since the publishing of this video. For Messi the magician, he’s made 831 club appearances in his career so far with Barcelona and PSG, with an incredible 297 assists and 695 goals. On average, he’s made a goal contribution every 69 minutes, which is frankly unreal.

As for Ronaldo the rarity, he’s made 949 club appearances for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. He’s contributed 201 assists and recently hit the 700-goal mark, which is just amazing. With all this put together, CR7 averaged a goal contribution every 86 minutes. With regards to hat tricks, Messi has completed 56 of them while Ronaldo has 60 to his name!

Messi has made an impact more regularly in matches, has dominated the assist game, and is only slightly behind in goals with fewer appearances. So we’ve got to hand this round to him.

WINNER: Messi

Lionel Messi 1 / Cristiano Ronaldo 0

Round #2: National Team Achievements

As well as being vital figures for their clubs, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have made important contributions to their respective nations. Both are captains and are their nationals all time leading goal scorers, too. As of the time of writing, Messi has made 169 appearances for Argentina with 51 assists and 94 goals. As for major international trophies, he has one Copa América and one Finalissima.

Over in Portugal, at the time of writing, Ronaldo has made 194 appearances for the national side with 33 assists and a stunning 118 goals! He’s currently the record holder for the most international goals, while Messi is third in this regard. Like his rival, Ronaldo also has his own international trophy collection. This includes a UEFA European Championship and a UEFA Nations League Championship.

As for the winner, Messi is the clear assist king out of the two. But when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net themselves, CR7 is top dog. Especially with that stunning competitive record. And so we give the round to Ronaldo for stepping up when it really matters!

WINNER: Ronaldo

Lionel Messi 1 / Cristiano Ronaldo 1

Round #3: Team and Individual Awards

Firstly, we’re going to look at Messi’s major club record. For Europe’s top prize, the UEFA Champions League, he’s won four of them. Messi has taken eleven league titles in Spain and France. He’s also won seven domestic cups, nine domestic super cups, three UEFA Super Cups. Now, as for the major individual awards, the Argentinian has won six FIFA World Player of the Year awards, seven Ballon D'ors, and six European Golden Shoes.

Now over to Ronaldo; he’s nabbed five UEFA Champions Leagues trophies with two different teams. For league titles, El Bicho has won seven in three countries with Spain, Italy, and England. Altogether, he’s also won six domestic cups, seven domestic super cups, three UEFA Super Cups. As for individual awards, Ronaldo has won five FIFA World Player of the Year awards, five Ballon D'ors, and four European Golden Shoes.

Considering they’re arguably the sport’s two biggest stars of all time, they’re always going to be associated with titles and individual awards. However, for those of you that didn’t have your calculators out during that, Messi currently has a total of 37 club trophies and 19 individual awards, while Ronaldo possesses 32 club awards and 14 individual awards. Altogether, that gives the Paris Saint-Germain forward 56 awards to CR7’s 46, giving us a clear winner for this round…MESSI!

WINNER: Messi

Lionel Messi 2 / Cristiano Ronaldo 1

Round #4: Skills

Both Messi and Ronaldo light up the pitch whenever the ball is at their feet. But who is the more versatile player? If we look at dribbling, Messi has demonstrated enough skill to show that he is the better player in this regard. He’s scored some incredible solo goals from his ability to weave through the opposition. As for finishing, Messi wins this category as he’s shown to take better advantage of simple one-on-one finishes.

But let’s not forget about Ronaldo. His heading ability is out of this world. Not only can he jump to incredible heights that seem impossible for a human, but El Bicho has shown an excellent ability at making contact with his noggin. When it comes to freekicks, while Messi is deadly from just outside the box, CR7 has shown that he can take them from further out and still be a substantial threat.

But for the big question on who wins the round, this one was tricky. Both icons have a lot of similarities in their skills. But they also excel in different and equally important aspects of the game. So, with that in mind, we’re calling this one a draw. A point for both!

WINNER: Draw

Lionel Messi 3 / Cristiano Ronaldo 2

Round #5: Head-to-Head

Thanks to the duo being around for years, they’ve faced each other on the pitch many times. And it’s always incredibly tense. Since their first meeting in 2008, at the time of writing they’ve gone head-to-head 36 times, with La Liga being the most common battleground. Out of all these matches, Messi has won 16, there have been 11 draws, while Ronaldo has won 11.

But that’s not the whole picture. You might be wondering what happened when the talented duo faced off in more serious competitions, such as a cup final or semi-final, when a trophy was on the line. When this has been the case, the two have faced off 13 times. For the semi-finals, which is six altogether, Messi won one, and there were three draws and two wins for Ronaldo. From the seven finals they both featured in, Messi took the trophy three times, there was one draw, and CR7 also took three.

While the little magician is the overall winner, Ronaldo holds the advantage when the stakes are higher. But even still, we have to give the slight edge to Messi, purely from having a substantial lead over Ronaldo in the total head-to-head score.

WINNER: Messi

Lionel Messi 4 / Cristiano Ronaldo 2