Messi vs Ronaldo: Live stats compare two Ballon d’Or winners during their time in Spain

Messi vs Ronaldo: FDOR’s live graphics show how the statistics of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo changed during their time in Spain.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been two of the best players in the history of association football.

Even after Ronaldo’s departure from Real Madrid, the two continue to push each other for further greatness, as was evident last week. After Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick and steered Juventus into the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Messi obliged with three goals against Real Betis.

The Argentine superstar also received a standing ovation from the opposition fans for his performance.

For nine years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo played against each other in Spain, before the Portuguese footballer left for Juventus last year.

Messi vs Ronaldo in Spain:

Cristiano Ronaldo began his career in Sporting Lisbon and joined Manchester United in 2003 – more than a year before Messi made his debut for Barcelona.

Due to positional differences between both the players during Ronaldo’s time in England, the rivalry between the two in Spain turned out to be one of the healthiest ones of our times.

Both the footballers played for the sides of near-equal quality which consistently challenged for top honours in domestic and European competitions. Both the players were also the main men for their sides, which provides for another strong base for comparison.

Moreover, they faced similar opposition in Spain – including each other.

Football dor released a live graphic-comparison of statistics between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo during their time in Spain.

The video documents the pair’s goals and assists, as well as their La Liga and Champions League triumphs over the course of nine years.

It looks better for Lionel Messi.

While Messi won six La Liga titles, Ronaldo only won two. However, thanks to Real Madrid’s late boom in Europe’s premier competition under Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Messi in number of Champions League titles. (4-2)

Ronaldo has also scored more goals than the number of appearances in La Liga, but Messi has the most goals, as well as more assists than the Portuguese forward.

How Twitter reacted..

League stats over the last decade:

Goals:
Messi 358-330 Ronaldo

Assists:
Messi 134-96 Ronaldo

Titles:
Messi 6-2 Ronaldo

Top Goalscorer:
Messi 5-3 Ronaldo

Player of the Year:
Messi 5-1 Ronaldo

MOTM awards:
Messi 179-102 Ronaldo

— bet365 (@bet365) March 18, 2019

Cristiano Ronaldo scores so many important goals, year after year. Yet in terms of talent, ability, and just pure get out of your seat stuff, he’ll never be able to lay a glove on Messi. He knows it as well. Must kill him inside.

— GeorgeWeahsCousin (@WeahsCousin) March 18, 2019

Last night, Messi surpassed Ronaldo in career all-time non-penalty goals scored, with 149 fewer games played.

Messi – 573 goals in 802 apps.

Ronaldo – 572 goals in 951 apps. pic.twitter.com/fMpBOEBHys

— totalBarça (@totalBarca) March 18, 2019

This is my first video on Twitter.
Messi vs Ronaldo [0809 – 1718]
what an amazing competition.
We can’t see anymore they are playing in Spain together.
[Music]
Thatched Villagers – Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License pic.twitter.com/Sv49JzwfVR

— fdor (@fdor_football) March 18, 2019

 

What next?

There is a possibility of the duo meeting each other this season in the Champions League. Both Juventus and Barcelona qualified for the quarterfinals last week. While Barca faces Manchester United, Ronaldo and his men face Ajax.