The sports world has witnessed many great rivalries in its history but some of these rivalries outshine all others in terms of their popularity among people and tough competition. The football sport has been able to produce very talented stars over the years. However, in its history, two players have shown unattainable levels of quality and success. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are undoubtedly the greatest footballers in existence. It is always up for discussion to decide who is better in the never-ending Messi vs Ronaldo GOAT debate.
GOAT is a word most of us are familiar with. Football fanatics are very well-versed with the word and its usage. And they often spar around who they will hand over this title to when it comes to their favourite football star - Is it the Argentine rockstar Lionel Andrés Messi or the Portuguese All-timer Cristiano Ronaldo? For those who don’t watch football too much, this can seem like an unreliable fuss - but for those who do, man, it is a matter of life and death and fisticuffs!
On 14 December 2000, history was written on a piece of napkin. That bold decision to sign a 16-year-old boy by Carles Rexach for Barcelona has never been questioned since the day Leo first stepped on the field for Barca. On 5 Aug 2021, Leo Messi had to, unfortunately, bid a heartbreaking goodbye to Barcelona, and joined the League 1 team Paris Saint-German.
Messi's strike took his career tally to 773 goals for club and country - 672 for Barcelona, 86 for Argentina, and 15 at PSG - taking the 35-year-old past Romário and into the top three top scorers in football history, Messi holds the record for most goals in La Liga (474), the Supercopa de España (14), the UEFA Super Cup (3) and is the player with the most official recorded assists in football history (339). Cristiano Ronaldo has 804 goals in 1106 games in his career (0.72 goals per game).
Messi has even won the men's Ballon d'Or award a record seven times including the one in 2021 while Ronaldo has won it five times. Leo has won five golden boot awards, while CR7 has won just four of these awards. The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best player over the previous year.
The two GOATs have played for more than one team. Leo has only played for two clubs in his professional career (Barcelona and PSG). However, Ronaldo has played for several teams in his career, and so many argued that he is the best of all time. At the club level, Messi is more successful with more trophies but still Ronaldo has more goals at the club level. On the other hand, Ronaldo has more trophies and the highest number of goals internationally.
5 major achievements by Lionel messi in 2020 (Image Source: 90min)
Discussions about Messi vs Ronaldo are endless since there will never be a consensus on who is the greatest of all time. Messi’s dribbling stats often seem beyond human and Ronaldo’s ability to conquer different countries stuns many. Nevertheless, both the Argentine and the Portuguese are the greatest footballers ever. And whoever is better between them depends on whoever is analysing.
Well if left to us, Ronaldo’s ability to perform in different teams, conditions, and countries under pressure with the same excellence give him the edge. But according to the stats, beginning of the 2022-23 season, Messi will literally have ‘GOAT’ labelled on his shirt.
