The great Portuguese legend Ronaldo made his professional debut in 2002 while the Argentine star Messi kicked off his senior career in 2004 with La Liga club Barcelona. Ronaldo vs Messi is one of the most prominent rivalry in the world football in its history. Both the legends have outstanding stats with unbeatable talent and they have been dominating the world football for almost over a decade or two now. Yet, the rivalry is going on. They never step back from leaving each other one step behind.
Messi and Ronaldo are definitely the greatest footballers of all time. The world is now bifurcated in two parts – Messi fanclub and Ronaldo fanclub. This competition or Messi vs Ronaldo debate first came into existence in 2007 when both of the megastars were nominated for one of the most prestigious football awards, Ballon d’or award.
However, Kaka preceded both of them. He beat Ronaldo and Messi to claim the prestigious Ballon d’or award in World Football. Meanwhile, Ronaldo came second with 277 votes followed by Messi who was at third place with 255 votes. 
Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo
Though neither of both the legends could win the Ballon d’or in 2007, they went on to dominate the football game winning Ballon d’or in the next year. After 2007, both the players won 12 Ballons in total. Ronaldo gave a kick start to this legacy in 2008 winning his first Ballon d’or, which was carried forward by Lionel Messi in 2009.
The Manchester United star Ronaldo (446 votes) received his first Ballon d’or in 2008 with Messi standing at second place with 281 votes.
In 2009, the greatest Argentine footballer, Messi claimed first Ballon d’or of his career taking revenge from Ronaldo. Messi beat Ronaldo with 250 votes to win the prestigious award.
Who has won Ballon d’or awards, Messi or Ronaldo?
The Argentine giant Messi claimed a total of 7 Ballon d’or awards in his entire career beating the Portuguese forward by 2. Ronaldo has just 5 Ballon d’or awards regardless of the fact that he started his professional career before two years of when Messi did.
Both the kings of football have a long list of titles and awards to their name. Messi has won a total of 7 Ballon d’or awards in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2025, 2019 and 2021 while the rest of the years were dedicated to Ronaldo. He won 5 Ballon d’or in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Messi vs Ronaldo achievements stats
We have to say that Messi and Ronaldo’s career is more lavish than their lifestyle. Their career is just fillled with a lot of achievements, titles and awards. Ballon d’or award is just one prominent example, the whole film is left for you to see.
Who has more Golden Shoe?
Messi has also won a total of six European Golden shoe while Ronaldo has won only four.
Messi claimed his first Golden shoe in 2009, and rest in 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2018. On the other hand Ronaldo was the first to have a Golden shoe to his name in 2007 while he won the rest in 2010, 2013 and 2014.
Both the players have a difference of 4 when it comes to Copa del Rey Award. Messi has won six Copa del Rey while on the other hand Ronaldo has won just two Copa del Rey in his entire career.
Club Level stats, Messi vs Ronaldo
You must be aware that Messi and Ronaldo play as a forward for their national teams as well as football clubs. Ronaldo has been a part of four major clubs in his illustrious career including Sporting, Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United FC. In this period of time he scored a total of 701 goals and provided 223 assists in 949 games that he played for overall clubs.
Lionel Messi’s football career is as rich as Elon Musk’s, the only difference is Musk is rich in terms of money while Messi’s in terms of goals, games and overall sport success. He spent most of his professional football career at La Liga club Barcelona where he started his senior career in 2004. Then he moved to Paris Saint Germain completing his 19-years long career with 701 goals and 332 assists in just 853 appearances. His goal stats reveal that he has a better rate of scoring than Ronaldo.
| Messi | Ronaldo | |||||
| App | Goals | Assists | Factor | Assists | Goals | App |
| 853 | 701 | 332 | Club Level | 223 | 701 | 949 |
| 161 | 129 | 45 | UEFA champions league | 48 | 140 | 183 |
| 520 | 474 | 216 | La Liga | 95 | 311 | 292 |
| 171 | 96 | 55 | International level | 43 | 118 | 195 |
| 25 | 11 | 8 | FIFAWorld Cup | 2 | 8 | 21 |
| 1024 | 797 | – | Career goals | – | 819 | 1144 |
Messi vs Ronaldo UEFA Champions League
Ronaldo is the leading goalscorer of UEFA Champions League holding the record for most goals in the league. The Manchester United charm has scored a total of 140 goals in 184 games in Europe’s biggest level football competition. Along with a staggering number of goals, the Portuguese pride has also provided us with 48 assists.
On the other hand, Messi scored 129 goals and provided 45 assists in 161 appearances in the UEFA champions league securing second place in the list of most goals.
Who scored most in La Liga, Messi or Ronaldo?
Messi has played for La Liga club Barcelona for most of his career while Ronaldo also had a strong position in La Liga club Real Madrid for a certain period of time. That period was crucial for the Messi vs Ronaldo debate as the rivalry was at its peak. Real Madrid’s Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Messi competed hard for league titles, and club awards between 2009 and 2018.
Messi had an astonishingly charming career at La Liga as he scored 474 goals and provided 216 assists in 520 appearances for the club. This also led him to hold the record for most goals for a single club. Holding this record, he beat Ronaldo who also gave his best scoring 311 goals and 95 assists in 292 appearances in La Liga.
International Football: Messi vs Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo again grabbed everyone’s attention by owning the record for most goals in International Football. He plays as a forward for the Portugal National team and represents it on International level. Making his debut to the team in 2003, Ronaldo has scored staggering 118 goals and provided 43 assists in 195 appearances for the Portugal National Team till now.
Messi is the top goal scorer of Argentina National Team of all time. Actually, he is the greatest goal scorer from all over South America. Representing Argentina in global sphere, Messi holds a score of 96 in 171 appearances for the nation. Along with the goals, he has also provided 55 assists so far.
Who performs best at FIFA World Cup, Messi or Ronaldo?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, both made his FIFA World Cup debut with 2006 World Cup held in Cologne, Germany. Since their debut, both have reached the mark of 5 tournaments including the latest 2022 World Cup at Qatar.
Ronaldo played his debut match for Portugal in a 1-0 win over Angola at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany. In his second group match, Ronaldo scored his first World Cup goal against Iran. Since then, he participated in World Cup of 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Lionel Messi made his ice breaking entry in the FIFA World Cup 2006 as a youngest player to represent Argentina when he came as a substitute against Serbia and Montenegro. There he scored his first goal as well as registered his first assist in their 6-0 win.
Messi has been a crucial part of Argentina. He has led the team to score a great deal in World Cups. His efforts and goal scoring ability also led the team to win the World Cup 2022 ending his World Cup journey with 11 goals in 25 appearances. Along with that, he also registered 8 assists in five editions of World Cup of his career.
Who has more overall goals, Messi or Ronaldo?
Overall, Ronaldo is the leading goal scorer edging Messi. He has 819 career goals which is 22 more than Messi. He achieved the score in 1144 matches.
On the other hand, Messi has scored staggering 797 goals in just 1024 matches in his entire career. Though he has less score than Ronaldo, his scoring rate is much better than him.
Who has more trophies?
Trophies are somewhere the symbol of a player’s success. And in this case however, Messi beats Ronaldo having more trophies than him. Across several football competitions for club and country, Messi has claimed 41 trophies while the Portuguese champ has just 34 trophies.
Messi’s 41 trophies include 10 La Liga titles, four UEFA champions league titles, four Copa America titles, seven Ballon d’or, six European sheos and seven Copa del Rey titles.
