Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: Comparing the legends of this generation.

Who is the best- Messi or C.Ronaldo???

This has always been the burning question in the footballing world. For Messi fans, Messi is the best while for C.Ronaldo fans he is the best. In this article, we drive deep into the topic that who is actually the best??? Messi or C.Ronaldo

Early Life:

Lionel Messi joined Newell Old Boys (the club of legend Diego Maradona) at the age of 6 and scored almost 500 goals for that team. At the age of 10, Messi was diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency and his career was about to stop before it even began. Newell Old Boys first agreed to pay for Messi’s treatment but later refused. He was also scouted by River Plate but could not afford to pay the required amount. Although it was highly unusual for European Clubs to scout and sign players of such young age at that time, Barcelona did sign Messi and the actual contract was done on a piece of napkin paper.

  Cristiano Ronaldo’s early life was also spent in poverty, much like Messi. He grew up in a catholic sharing a room with all his siblings. C.Ronaldo already had played for Andhorinha and Nacional before eventually signing for Sporting C.P for a fee of around 1,500 pounds. Like Messi, at the age of 15, C. Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart, a severe condition that could have forced him to leave football completely. However, he eventually had a successful operation, and his career took a new turn when he signed for Manchester United as a teenager under the able leadership of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Rise of Messi and Ronaldo:

Messi made his Barcelona debut in October 2004 aged 17 and established himself as a regular starter in the next 3 years. During the 2008-09 season, Barcelona won the first Spanish Treble and Messi won his first Ballon d’Or aged 22 in 2009. Lionel Messi continued his success and won the next 3 Ballon d’Or till 2012, a record. In the 2011-12 season, Messi scored the most goals in a calendar year (90) and became Barcelona’s All-Time Record Scorer. Despite two consecutive 2nd finish in Ballon d’Or, the best of Messi was yet to come. In 2014-15, he became the all-time record scorer in La-Liga leading Barcelona to a historic 2nd Treble. Although after that Barcelona have never reached the semi-final stage again in the Champions League and in 2019-20 season Barca finished 2nd to Real Madrid, Messi has now scored 644 goals for Barcelona, the most by any player for a single club. 

Cristiano Ronaldo was signed as the most expensive teenager at that time by Manchester United. A major role in Ronaldo’s career was the influence of Sir Alex Ferguson whom he later acknowledged as “his father in sports, one of the most important and influential factors in my life.” Despite off-field issues and bad temper, C. Ronaldo won one FA Cup (in his debut season), 2 English League Cups, 3 Premier League titles, 1 Champions League, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup with Manchester United. His most prolific season in a United shirt was the 2007-08 season where he has scored 42 goals in total and 31 Premier League goals eventually winning the Premier League Golden Boot. In 2008-09 he became the first United player to win the Ballon d’Or since George Best in 1968. He scored almost 100 goals and won 9 major trophies during his time in England and moved to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-record 94 Million Euros move. 

With Real Madrid, C. Ronaldo fulfilled his true potential. He won four Champions League crowns, three Club World Cups and UEFA Super Cups apiece, two La-Liga titles, a pair of Copa del Rey and two Spanish Super Cups. He had scored an astonishing 451 goals for Real Madrid in 438 games, averaging more than a goal every game. He had won four Ballon d’Or with Real Madrid and three golden boot winners with the Los Blanco’s.

In the summer of 2018, Cristiano left Real Madrid as a legend and signed for Juventus for an initial fee of 100 Million Euros. The highest fee paid by an Italian Club ever and the highest for any player above the age of 30. Since then, he has won the Italian Serie A in consecutive seasons and an Italian Super Cup.

A career with the National Team:

Both the superstars so far have failed to replicate their club success for their National Teams indicating the fact that Football is more of a team game than individuals.

Lionel Messi so far has led his Argentina side to a 2nd place finish in the 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP and two Copa America finals in 2015 and 2016. After the defeat against Chile in 2016, Messi announced his retirement from International Football but later came back to lead his team to the World Cup group stages.

Notably, for C. Ronaldo, he had won the Euros with Portugal and led his side to a UEFA Nations League triumph against the Netherlands in 2019. Cristiano has scored a mammoth of 102 goals for Portugal in 170 games and is currently behind Ali Daei with 109 goals for the most goals scored on the international stage.  

Remarkable Accolades and Career Statistics:

Lionel Messi has won six (6) Ballon d’Or [the most by any player] and six (6) European Golden shoes [again the most by any player]. He has also won a record whopping 33 major trophies which include 10 La-Liga Titles, 4 Champions League, and 6 Copa Del Rey. Lionel Messi has in his name: 

1) Most goals scored in La-Liga - 451

2) Most goals scored in a single La-Liga season - 50

3) Most goals scored in a European Season after 1950 - 73

4) Most assists in a La-Liga history - 184

5) Most hat-tricks in La-Liga and Champions League history - 36

6) Most assists in a single La-Liga season - 21

7) Most goals scored for a club by a single player - 644

Cristiano Ronaldo has won five (5) Ballon d’Or and four (4) European Golden Shoes a record for a European Player. He has won 30 Major Trophies including seven (7) League Titles (3 Premier Leagues, 2 La-Liga Titles, and 2 Italian Serie A titles). He has won the most UEFA Champions League by any player 5 and one (1) UEFA European Cup and one (1) UEFA Nations League with Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo has in his name:

1) More than 750 Senior Career goals for Club and Country

2) 102 goals for Portugal, the 2nd most goal by any player in the international stage

3) Most goals in UEFA Champions League history - 134

4) Most assists in UEFA Champions League history - 41

5) Most UEFA Champions League - 5

6) Globe’s Player of the Decade.

What is there in the future?

With Lionel Messi's contract expires at the end of the season, the La-Liga outfit has the risk of losing him for free in 2021. With Messi keen to move, it will be fascinating to see where he could go- Man City and PSG his most likely destinations as they could only afford Messi’s 100 Million Euros a year wage. He could reunite with Neymar at PSG or Pep at Man City. Also with the new presidentship election to be held on 24th January 2021 

Cristiano’s contract expires in the summer of 2022 and we could also see the former United Man move back to the Premier League if United and Juventus agree for a player swoop with Paul Pogba leaving as stated by his agent, Mino Raiola, at the start of this month.

If both move to the Premier League, it will be one last battle between two of the greatest players of this generation.

Who’s the best then- Messi or C. Ronaldo ???

Well, we at Your Sports Forum find it inadequate to compare two of the most consistent players of this generation. To give anyone an insight of the level they have reached if anyone starts his career at the age of 20 and continue to score 30 goals for fifteen (15) consecutive seasons, he will end up with 450 goals still left 1 goal behind C. Ronaldo’s 451 goals in La-Liga, let alone Messi’s 644 goals. Hence, we can safely say that both are legends, and both are getting closer to the end of their illustrious career. C. Ronaldo turns 36 on 5th February 2021 while Messi turns 34 in the summer of 2021 on 24th June. Some may have their personal favorites but, in our opinion, as football lovers, both are legends of the game and we should be thankful that we lived in such an era of dominance by only two players. What they achieved will be very hard to replicate again as both Messi and C. Ronaldo pushed their opposite number such that they bought the best out of them.

To sum up in a line, in our opinion, Messi is the Picasso of Football while C. Ronaldo is a goal machine who is just like red wine, growing better and better with age.

Comment your suggestions below?? Who do you think is the best??? Or just like football lovers, we appreciate both of them??

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