The first name that comes to mind of most people thinking of the records in football might be Lionel Messi but this time Ronaldo has stolen the limelight. Yes, the Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for breaking most records in football history. Ronaldo has been in the picture since he first showed up for Real Madrid in 2002. He has probably won every possible award or title in football except for the World Cup.
The legendary rivals, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been at the peak of their career for most of their life and are still going strong. The all time leading goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo ended up as the second highest scorer in the English Premier League with Manchester United while Messi made his move to Paris Saint-Germain leaving Barcelona where he spent most of his time.
Both the competitors have attempted five World Cups and only Messi has won one that is in 2022. They have been dominating world football for almost two decades now although Messi will soon retire from Argentina. The two of the footballers are known to have most records in European as well as international Football despite other footballers having been part of that kind of records.
Who has the most Football records?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two most prominent names in modern football but only one of them could be the one to hold most Football records. That’s our United star Ronaldo. You heard me right!
Cristiano Ronaldo began his professional career in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon and later played for Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United. The former Manchester United star has possession of a lot of records in football that might even be more than Messi.
Ronaldo has scored a total of more than 800 goals in his entire career. He even beat Pele who set the record with 766 goals. This is not the end as Ronaldo also has the most International goals as compared to others and as of now his international goals tally counts 117 goals.
Before we make our way forward, let’s make a comparison between the two Greatest legends in football on the basis of their achievements. Let’s see who takes up the seat for most records.
Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | |
Champions league | 140 goals, 40 assists | 125 goals, 35 assists |
Champions league | 8 Hat tricks | 8 Hat tricks |
Champions league | 5 titles | 4 titles |
La Liga | 308 goals and 95 assists | 474 goals and 216 assists |
La Liga | 2 titles | 10 titles |
FIFA Club World Cup | 4 | 3 |
Ballon d’or | 5 | 7 |
International competition | 117 goals in 189 games | 86 goals in 162 games |
What records does Cristiano Ronaldo hold?
Ronaldo has a long list of Football records to his name including some major ones like most Champion League titles. The Portuguese forward also became the first player to score over 50 goals in consecutive 6 seasons for Real Madrid. The Real Madrid star also holds a joint record with Lionel Messi for 8 hattricks in UEFA Champions League.
Also, Ronaldo is the only player to score over 15 goals in Champions League calendar year on three occasions. Apart from that he also holds the record to be the only player to score consecutive hattricks in the UEFA Champions League in 2017 as he has always been a dominant player in European football.
Interestingly, Ronaldo just keeps adding to the list of his achievements one by one. The Former United player became the first player to score more than 100 goals in European tournaments including UEFA Super Cup and the Champions League. The player also set the record for scoring the most number of free kick goals (12) in a single UEFA Champions League season.
There is probably a title left that Ronaldo has not won. Even in Spanish Football, he displayed his skills exceptionally well. He recorded the most number of penalties in La Liga history while netting more than 30 goals in six consecutive seasons in La Liga. The Real Madrid forward also scored most (35) hat tricks for his Spanish club.
To your amazement, he also became the first player to win the prestigious European Golden. Also he won Ballon d’or first before Messi did regardless of the fact that Messi ended up winning more Ballon d’or awards.
Speaking of goals, Ronaldo has always been the leading goalscorer at every stage of his career in some way. Just like that, he held thel records for most number of goals in Premier League during his time with Manchester United. Also, he is the sole player to be awarded with the FIFA Puskas Award and the title of FIFA World Player of the Year.
You must remember that Ronaldo has attempted five World Cups out of which he holds the record of scoring in four. As a result of his uncanny scoring ability, Cristiano Ronaldo is now the leading goalscorer of all time in Portugal as well as the whole world. In his career of over a decade with Portugal National Team, Ronaldo has won 170 caps so far.
Lionel Messi’s achievements and records
As we already mentioned, Lionel Messi holds the record for most Ballon d’or awards (7) in the world currently, two more than the prestigious Portuguese forward.
Just like Ronaldo, Messi leads his club in number of goals. The Argentinian captain spent most of his life playing for La Liga club Barcelona where he registered the most goals (91) for the club in a calendar year in 2012. Messi shares the record for scoring 100 goals in the Champion League. He also has made the highest number of appearances for Barcelona.
The Argentinian giant is the leading goalscorer of Barcelona in International competitions as well as continental competitions with having scored 45 free kick goals for the club, most goals recorded by any player in the history. Messi is also the first player to win six European golden Shoes.
The former Paris Saint-Germain forward is the only player to record goals and assists in six separate competitions in a single season. Apart from that, Messi also netted the most number of hat tricks in a single La Liga season along with Ronaldo.
Though Ronaldo holds the record for most goals in the world, Messi remains the leading goalscorer of La Liga having scored most goals for Barcelona in the league history. There are even some competitions or awards Messi has received more than Ronaldo as he has the most trophies in Spanish Football.
He set a record for scoring a least of two goals in a football game on 100 occasions. Interestingly, he also scored goals in six Spanish Super Cup editions.