Messi Vs Ronaldo All Time Stats in FULL Detail

What could a Messi Vs Ronaldo all time stats look like? I’m just as curious as you to know Messi Vs Ronaldo Free Kick Stats.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of a kind when it comes to modern-day footballers, and arguably, they are the very best of them all.

But somehow someway, their careers have largely coincided, with both players dominating the game for well over a decade now.

But who is the best?

We compare Messi vs Ronaldo all time stats in a number of different categories, you decide the overall winner.

Messi Vs Ronaldo All Time Stats

Who has a better goal ratio Messi or Ronaldo?

Let me start this Messi Vs Ronaldo all time stats with their goals. What really made this rivalry erupt was their incredible, unprecedented goalscoring rates, with both Messi and Ronaldo averaging quite one goal every game at their peaks.

During the 9 years Ronaldo spent at Real Madrid, Messi and Ronaldo both scored a goal every 85 minutes altogether competitions.

The adjacency of their goalscoring – matching one another blow for blow – has been astounding over the years.

Over their entire careers, it’s Messi who edges the ratio, with 0.79 goals per game, whereas Ronaldo has scored 0.72 goals per game.

If we drill down into goals per minutes, Messi scores a goal every 104 minutes, and Ronaldo scores a goal every 112 minutes.

Ronaldo still has more all time career goals than Messi though (Ronaldo has 815 career goals and Messi has 773 career goals), but Ronaldo has played 147 more games over his career than Messi has.

Although Messi shades the general ratio, Ronaldo spent more of his youth as a more traditional right winger, only really beginning to focus on goalscoring as his primary function in 2006, 3-4 years into his career.

For Messi, it had been 2-3 years until he completed the transformation from a nippy winger into a player hungry for goals above everything else.

If we take these differing beginnings under consideration , the ratios would be even closer.

Of all the categories, goalscoring is that the hardest to separate them on. This one’s a tie.

Who Has The Highest Assist Between Ronaldo And Messi

When it involves assists, there’s just one winner. Lionel Messi’s playmaking abilities are right up there with the absolute best , and he has the numbers to prove it.

Messi has racked up a powerful 333 assists in 978 career appearances, compared to Ronaldo’s 230 assists in 1125 games.

However, because Messi features a clear ascendancy when it comes to assists, this often leads people to fall under the trap of underestimating Ronaldo’s proficiency in this area.

Ronaldo’s assist numbers are still extremely impressive compared to the opposite mere mortals that play the beautiful game.

In fact, Ronaldo has more within the Champions League, with 41 assists to Messi’s 35 assists – granted Ronaldo has played 31 more matches than Messi, but this is often still an impressive tally.

With that said, you cannot ignore Messi’s overall assist stats – he takes this category comfortably.

Messi Vs Ronaldo Passing Stats

The passing stats point to a transparent winner in this category; Lionel Messi. But again, Ronaldo’s passing abilities are often underestimated.

In the league and Champions League since 2009/10, Messi has made 1284 key passes in 563 appearances, whilst Ronaldo has made 888 key passes in 554 appearances.

Messi also dominates the throughball statistics, making 413 successful throughballs therein same time period, compared to Ronaldo’s 81 successful throughballs.

Although Messi’s passing numbers are clearly superior, Ronaldo’s are still impressive.

It’s also likely that his passing stats would have been significantly higher before 2009 when he was more involved in the creative build-up play.

Who Is Better At Dribbling Messi Or Ronaldo

Ronaldo started his career as a difficult winger, when his game was all about running at and beating defenders together with his pace and skill.

As he has transitioned to an inside-forward / striker role over the years, dribbling has naturally become significantly less of an element in Ronaldo’s performances.

Messi also started his footballing career stuck to the by-line, eventually moving to a more central role as his primary position for many of his career.

However, Messi plays a really different game to a traditional centre-forward, together with his natural Number 10 abilities making him the perfect False 9.

As a result Messi comes much deeper, towards the play, instead of making runs and playing off the shoulder of the defenders.

Because he often comes deep to receive the ball, dribbling remains a major part of Messi’s game, completing a fantastic 2975 dribbles in the league and Champions League, compared to Ronaldo’s 1652 successful dribbles (since 2003/04).

There is therefore little doubt that Lionel Messi is the best when it comes to dribbling.

Who Has Scored More Headers Messi Or Ronaldo

Heading is doubtless the most clear-cut category, with Ronaldo’s heading stats absolutely dwarfing Messi’s.

Over their entire careers, Ronaldo has scored 141 headers in 1125 appearances, whereas Messi has scored just 26 headers in 978 appearances.

In addition to headed goals, Ronaldo has also won 727 aerial duels within the league and Champions League since 2009/10 compared to Messi’s 113 aerial duels won.

Of course, once you look at their respective builds, the way they play, the way their teams play, these numbers are hardly surprising.

Messi Vs Ronaldo Shooting Stats

The stats show that Ronaldo consistently has more shots on goal than Messi, totalling 3430 shots within the league and Champions League since 2009/10, compared to Messi’s 2782 shots.

However, Messi converts a better percentage of his shots, scoring a goal with every 5.18 shots, whereas Ronaldo scores a goal with every 6.41 shots.

Leo Messi also gets more of his shots on track , with 47.59%, of his efforts on track compared to Ronaldo’s 41.22%,.

However, despite Messi’s superior efficiency, the sheer volume of attempts Cristiano Ronaldo is in a position to produce is incredible and an important skill in itself.
He also has the sting in terms of shooting from long-range, also as with his weak foot and head, so that’s enough to call this one a tie.

How many penalty goals does Messi have vs Ronaldo?

When it involves penalties, Ronaldo’s numbers are comfortably superior to Messi’s, although perhaps not by the maximum amount as some people think.
The media perception is that Messi is unreliable from the spot, whereas Ronaldo is that the ultimate ice-cool penalty king – the truth, is somewhere in between.

Excluding shootouts, Ronaldo has scored a powerful 144 penalties (with 29 misses) over his whole career, whereas Messi has scored 103 penalties (with 30 misses).

This gives Ronaldo an overall penalty conversion rate of 83%, compared to Messi’s overall penalty conversion rate of 77%.

Ronaldo’s stats are clearly better, however he is not as reliable as he is sometimes portrayed, with other elite strikers like Lewandowski and Ibrahimovic boasting significantly better conversion rates.

In terms of massive penalty misses, Messi missed one within the 2016 Copa America final shootout against Chile, and therefore the 2012 Champions League semi-final miss against Chelsea.

For Ronaldo, his biggest penalty misses came within the 2008 Champions League final shootout against Chelsea (his Man Utd side would ultimately go on to win due to John Terry’s miss), and within the 2012 Champions League semi-final shootout against Bayern Munich (which did prove fatal for Real Madrid).

Messi Vs Ronaldo Free Kick Stats

What does Messi Vs Ronaldo Free Kick Stats look like? In recent years, Messi has become the last word free kick specialist, whilst Ronaldo’s proficiency during this area has diminished somewhat alarmingly.
However, to mention that this category is therefore cut-and-dry is simple recency bias.

For example, it’s going to be true that from 2017-2019, Messi scored 23 place kick goals to Ronaldo’s 5; however, from 2009-2011, Ronaldo scored 21 direct place kick goals to Messi’s 3.

In terms of the all time career stats, Messi has now scored 58 place kick goals compared to Ronaldo’s 58 free kick goals.

A few years ago this category seemed like a lock for Cristiano Ronaldo, but Leo Messi’s stunning turnaround in recent years means he’s trapped with Ronaldo and also has the better free kick conversion rate, so he takes this one.

Messi Vs Ronaldo Hat Trick Goals Statistics

The rate at which Messi and Ronaldo score hat tricks is scarcely believable, with a staggering 116 between them; 56 career hat tricks for Messi and 60 career hat tricks for Ronaldo.

Ronaldo should have the overall lead, but Messi features a slight edge in terms of frequency. Messi scores a score every 17.5 games, whereas Ronaldo scores a score every 18.8 games.

These numbers are so tight, and to feature to this, their score count in league games is: 36 hat tricks for Messi and 39 hat-tricks for Ronaldo. And within the Champions League? 8 hat tricks for Messi and 8 hat tricks for Ronaldo.

This one’s definitely a tie.

Messi Vs Ronaldo Individual Awards

No other footballers in history have sustained such elite levels for such an extended period of time. Their stranglehold on the coveted Ballon d’Or award has been relentless, with Messi’s 7 Ballon d’Or trophies edging Ronaldo’s haul of 5 Ballons d’Or. No other player in history has won quite 3! If Messi or Ronaldo didn’t have each other to compete with for the award over the years, it isn’t inconceivable that one of them could have picked up the award 10 times or more.

In terms of UEFA’s top award, it’s Ronaldo that has the sting with 4 awards (1x UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, 2x UEFA Best Player in Europe, 1x UEFA Men’s Player of the Year) to Messi’s 3 awards (1x UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, 2x UEFA Best Player in Europe).

In terms of golden boots, Messi has finished because the league’s top scorer 8 times, winning the ecu Golden Shoe on 6 of those occasions. Ronaldo has finished as top scorer within the league 5 times (once in the Premier League, once in Serie A, and three times in La Liga), winning 4 European Golden Shoes within the process.

Ronaldo has won the Puskas award for best goal during a calendar year (2 nominations), whereas Messi has thus far failed to win this award despite being nominated 7 times.

Messi has however won the Golden Ball, awarded to the player of the tournament at the planet Cup, after taking his Argentina side to the ultimate in 2014, narrowly losing bent Germany in the final. He has also been named Copa America’s Best Player on twice , and Best Young Player once.

Messi Vs Ronaldo Trophies

In terms of trophies, Messi has the general lead, with 41 trophies to Ronaldo’s 34 trophies (including Messi’s 2008 Olympic triumph and 2005 U-20 World Cup).

Messi has 11 league titles to Ronaldo’s 7, but Ronaldo has the ascendancy in terms of Champions League triumphs with 5 to Messi’s 4. There’s not plenty in it, but the general figures means Messi currently edges this one.

Who has more records Messi or Ronaldo?

In short, Messi and Ronaldo have an identical number of records to their name. the foremost startling is maybe Messi’s Guiness World Record for scoring 91 goals in a calendar year in 2012. to place this into context, Messi’s next best is 60 and Ronaldo’s best is 69. to attain 91 goals in a year is other worldly.

Ronaldo however dominates the Champions League record books, with most goals, most assists, most place kick goals, most hat-tricks (shared with Messi), and most goals during a single season.

Messi holds many European records at domestic level, with the foremost league goals scored in a single season (50 goals), and most consecutive league matches scored in in world football (21 matches, 33 goals).

At International level, Ronaldo is that the all time top scorer with an unbelievable 117 goals, whilst Messi is the highest scoring South American of all time with 86 goals.

Ronaldo Vs Messi International Record

Both players can claim to possess enjoyed fantastic careers at international level – their numbers aren’t quite as other-wordly as what they produce for their club sides, but they’re still extremely impressive nonetheless.

Ronaldo scores a goal every 129 minutes for Portugal, and Messi scores a goal every 155 minutes for Argentina. once you factor in assists, Ronaldo makes a goal contribution every 101 minutes, whereas Messi makes a goal contribution every 99 minutes.

Ronaldo is Portugal’s all-time top scorer with 117 goals (in 189 appearances), and Messi is Argentina’s all-time top scorer with 86 goals (in 162 appearances).

In terms of individual accolades for the national team, Ronaldo won the Euro 2021 Golden Boot for the highest scorer, also as the Silver Boot at Euro 2016 for scoring the 2nd most goals in the tournament. Messi has won the planet Cup Golden Ball (2014) and the Copa America Golden Ball twice (2015 & 2021), awarded to the simplest player of those respective tournaments. He also scooped the Golden Boot award at Copa America 2021.

Messi has experienced more heartache at international level, losing in 4 major finals, but he was finally ready to triumph with his country at full senior level at Copa America 2021. this is often in addition to his Olympic Gold medal (with an Argentina U23 side), the FIFA U20 World Cup trophy, and last the Finalissima trophy (UEFA / CONMEBOL Cup of Champions).

Ronaldo has reached 2 major international finals with Portugal, winning one among these at the 2016 European Championships, and losing the opposite at Euro 2004. He also won the UEFA Nations League with Portugal, and has the foremost goals in the history of international football!

Messi has the greater number of individual awards, but Ronaldo features a significantly superior goalscoring record, so we’re calling this one a tie.

Conclusion on Messi Vs Ronaldo all time stats

Now it is your turn on this Messi vs Ronaldo all time stats to choose your prefered player

This article was updated 1 week ago