Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are closing on Pele’s goalscoring record.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been the best footballers by a mile over the last decade. The contest between these two was fascinating, with one representing Barcelona and the other featuring for Real Madrid in the La Liga.
With supreme rivalry, both of them have lifted the Ballon d’Or five times which is given to the best player in the world. Additionally, they have been featuring in the UEFA Team of the year more often than not.
Lionel Messi is currently the top scorer in the top five leagues with 18 goals, making it 24 in all competitions this term, and Cristiano Ronaldo has 14 to his name in the Italian top flight and 16 goals in all competitions for his new side Juventus.
The Old Lady who have not won the Champions League since 1996 have a glorious chance to claim it as they have the record Champions League holder in their hands. On the other hand, Barcelona have taken some enormous steps to lift that trophy for the first time in four years.
As well know, the Brazilian Pele has scored more than 1000 goals in his joy-filled career. But, as per the Express, his official record with Santos is 619 goals in 638 games throughout his career.
There were times when people claimed that nobody would come close to that record, but Messi and Ronaldo have done it against all odds to close down the goalscoring bridge.
Messi became the first player in the La Liga to score 400 goals last week, and he has netted a total of 576 goals in 660 games for the Catalonian side. Considering Messi’s standards and with age on his side, there are very minimal chances that he is going to struggle to get over that number.
On the other hand, his competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo is the man closest to the Brazilian great. The Portuguese International has scored 589 goals in 789 games. The Juventus forward who had turned 33 years of age is just 31 goals away from becoming the greatest goalscorer of all time. He should have no problem in getting to that record by adapting so well in the Serie A.
Even though Pele dissed Lionel Messi’s traits in a recent interview, he chose the Argentine over Cristiano Ronaldo when he was asked to pick either of the one earlier last year.
“It’s sad that you have only two players in the world to choose from. Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Pele, Zico, Junior … All over the world now there are only two players. And Neymar, right? Our Brazilian is getting there.
I would still stay with Messi. Scoring is important, no doubt, but if you do not have anyone to prepare, then the ball is not enough. For my team I prefer Messi. Messi’s been the most stable in the last 10 years.
“As for Cristiano Ronaldo, he’s a great goalscorer. Ronaldo’s been able to score goals, while you see Messi creating goals and directing the play, as well as scoring. Ronaldo’s a great goalscorer but in terms of the complete player, there’s no doubt that Messi is the best.” Pele said.
