Lionel Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly the most high-profile rivalry in football history. Deciding which is the better player is a debate that’s fiercely argued around the world, and while we ought to appreciate both - it is unprecedented to have two geniuses operating at the same time - we cannot resist comparing the two.
Their playing styles are very different, and yet Messi and Ronaldo have recorded fairly similar statistics. Here, we take a deep dive into the numbers to decide who really is the number one in the world.
The raw numbers can give us some insight. At club level, since his Barcelona debut in 2004 Messi has played 718 games, scoring 627 goals and assisting 261 more.
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