Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi – By the Numbers

by Sam Olbur

Over the last 10+ years, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been the two most dominant and recognizable names in soccer. You don’t have to be a fan of the sport to know who they are, who they play for, and what country they’re from. Because of their joint success and the club teams they have played for, they have been linked together to form one of the greatest individual rivalries in the history of sports. Before going any further, I must admit I became a soccer fan because of Lionel Messi. His style of play caught my eye from the beginning which makes me biased towards him. However, in this piece I want to use statistics and facts more than personal opinion to draw a fair conclusion about these two sports icons In addition, I will be using my statistical data from 2009-2018 when both Ronaldo and Messi were playing in the same league and playing for similar teams and in the primes of their careers.

Messi has been with Barcelona during that time period and Ronaldo was with Real Madrid from 2009-2018 and just left this summer to play for Juventus. I feel this is the most logical way to compare the two players because this is when they were playing against the same opponents every year at their peak abilities. Before 2009, Ronaldo played in the Premier League with Manchester United, while Lionel Messi was trying to find his niche as an up-and-coming teenager with Barcelona playing along side the likes of Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry. It makes no sense to me to use that data to draw conclusions about the two athletes because Ronaldo was playing in a more difficult league to score goals, and Messi hadn’t come into his own yet as a player. As far as international duty goes, the two players were in completely different situations with completely different levels of competition. Thus, I feel the 9 year period where both players played in the same league for the two biggest soccer superpowers in the world is enough to get a statistical grasp on where each guy stands compared to the other.

Let’s start with the most popular and closest debate between the two men: Goals. From 2009-2018 for Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo played in 438 games and scored an astonishing 450 goals in all competitions. Lionel Messi played in 476 games and scored 474 goals. Therefore, Messi scored more goals, but Ronaldo had a better goals per game ratio. The goal debate is really a coin flip. It must be noted, that recently, Lionel Messi has evolved into more of a playmaking role for Barcelona due to team needs, so he has fewer opportunities inside the box. In contrast, as time has progressed, Ronaldo has become less of a playmaker and has focused all his attention on goalscoring at this stage in his career. Ronaldo scores the majority of his goals with his head and his right foot, while Messi scores most of his with just his left foot. Ronaldo has the greater percentage of one touch goals (passes from teammates that don’t need anything but an immediate shot from the pass without dribbling). Messi has a greater percentage of goals with individual dribbles before the goal (he dribbles around defenders and then scores). Messi has the edge in chances converted at 28% to Ronaldo’s 20%. The numbers here don’t lie. Ronaldo and Messi are both all time great goal scorers and a team would be just fine with either one.

For me, the debate between Ronaldo and Messi starts to separate when we move past goals. Soccer isn’t just about scoring goals. There are so many other factors that go into winning than just goalscoring. Some of the greatest soccer players of all time were not known for scoring goals, but creating them. In 438 games for Real Madrid, Ronaldo had 119 assists. In 476 games for Barcelona during the same time period, Messi had 176 assists. Messi has the edge there, but sometimes, assists can be deceiving, because you’re relying on others to finish the goals. Over the same time period, Lionel Messi has created over 150 chances more than Ronaldo has. That means his passes have led to goalscoring opportunities for teammates that may or may not have been converted. Messi’s passing and creating is far superior to Ronaldo’s in every way if you watch the two regularly. Ronaldo is a fine passer of the ball and a very under appreciated crosser of the ball, but Lionel Messi is simply one of the best of all time at creating chances for others. The statistics back that up.

The next element in which we have the statistics to discuss is dribbling. Both players are known for their dribbling, but in different ways. Ronaldo is known for his signature step overs that can turn a defender the wrong direction at any time. Messi’s unmistakable body feints often turn defenders around and make them look silly. However, the statistics show this to be a close debate either. A converted dribble in soccer means you use the dribble to beat a defender and go around them without the help of a pass. In La Liga, during the time period we have discussed, Cristiano Ronaldo had 492 completed dribbles. Lionel Messi had 1,188 completed dribbles, almost 2.5x as many as Ronaldo. As I mentioned earlier, Ronaldo has dribbled a lot less as he’s aged to save energy for goals inside the box. However, this sort of discrepancy must be noted. Lionel Messi is the far more effective dribbler of the ball and illustrates this day in and day out.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have both been successful in winning throughout their careers. Ronaldo has the edge in Champions League crowns at 5-4. Messi has the edge in league crowns at 9-5. Ronaldo was able to win a European trophy for his country in 2016. Messi had the edge in total trophies won, however, at 35-28. Like the goalscoring debate, this is a coin flip. Both players are winners and will continue to win and help their teams no matter their age or location.

Overall, we have discussed 4 major categories when comparing these two players: goalscoring, chance creating, dribbling, and overall winning. I didn’t want to dive into leadership qualities because that is too subjective, and this is primarily about what the stats say. Looking at the goalscoring and overall winning stats would prove that it’s up for debate. If a team needs a bigger player that’s more of a striker to score goals, they would go with Ronaldo. If a team needs more of a solo dribbler style to score goals, they would choose Messi. The passing and dribbling aspect of this debate is not particularly close. If a team already has a prominent goalscorer and had to choose between these two men, they would always go with Messi because he can offer more and still complement the team. Just from a brief dive into the statistics, I think a fair conclusion should be made that Messi is the superior soccer player. He just does more things on the field than Ronaldo. He’s more of a creator, yet somehow scores just as many goals in a more efficient way. Usually, creative players like Andres Iniesta or Andrea Pirlo aren’t known for their goalscoring, because they are creating for everyone else. Messi does both, and that’s what separates him from the pack statistically.