The Argentina captain Lionel Messi is undisputedly the best player of the 21st century given his unprecedented performance in competitions for club and country. Though the controversy about who is the best player among Messi and Ronaldo continues to speed even after decades, Messi remains the anonymous choice of everyone. Despite Ronaldo being regarded as the most popular footballer around the world, Messi continues to be the first choice as the best player of the 21st century.
This is no surprise that Messi left Ronaldo behind and the seven time Ballon d’or award winner came at the top of the list of 100 best players in the 21st century. While players like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Andreas Iniesta are also listed among the top ten footballers who shut the world up by their Mesmerising performance.
Who is the century’s best player?
The Paris Saint-Germain forward and the current World Cup winner Lionel Messi has been listed on the top among the best footballers in the 21st century compiled by Four Four Two Magazine. Messi occupied the first spot in the list followed by Cristiano Ronaldo who came second in the list.
Both the legends of football have quite a long list of achievements and titles. Though both Messi and Ronaldo have good count of Ballon d’or awards, Messi is 2 number ahead of Ronaldo as he has won Ballon d’or seven times while the Portuguese forward has just five Ballon d’or awards.
Ronaldo has won several league titles in three of the top European leagues including Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid while Messi has won numerous league titles for Barcelona and now Paris Saint-Germain.
Who else is on the list of century’s top 10 players?
It’s an interesting question to talk about as Messi and Ronaldo are the two top footballers only while the list has eight more spots left. Ronaldinho who is 2002 World Cup winner, has been ranked fifth among the top ten footballers in the 21st century with the top two Barcelona players – Xavi and Iniesta ahead in the list.
While the great Zinedine Zidane is ranked 6th in the list right behind Ronaldinho, players like Ricardo Kaka, Thierry Henry, Manuel Neuer and Luis Suarez occupy the rest of the top ten positions. Surprisingly, the great Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski has come 28th, Didier Drogba came 40th while the fastest footballer in the world, Kylian Mbappe has been ranked 75th.
| Rank | Player |
| 1 | Lionel Messi |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| 3 | Andres Iniesta |
| 4 | Xavi |
| 5 | Ronaldinho |
| 6 | Zinedine Zidane |
| 7 | Thierry Henry |
| 8 | Manuel Neuer |
| 9 | Kaka |
| 10 | Luis Suarez |
Who had a better performance rate in 2022, Messi or Ronaldo?
Earlier it was reported by Sports Brief that Cristiano Ronaldo had a better season as compared to the Argentine giant, Lionel Messi while the results were quite conflicting as by the end of the year 2022, Messi lifted the World Cup trophy with Argentina for third time in Football History.
Rivalry between the two Greatest legends of our generation has been stretched for around to decades now and yet the controversy about who is better continues to rage. Both the players are widely regarded as Greatest as well as finest players in the world and the charismatic duo had a transfer to other clubs in the last season.
Lionel Messi ended his 18-years long journey with Barcelona making it to top European flight league club Paris Saint Germain while Ronaldo has recently joined Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr as a forward.
Messi’s club statistics
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.
Is Ronaldo better than Messi?
Ronaldo is the most popular footballer ever in the world with hundreds of millions fans on social media only. The Manchester United player started his club career in 2002 and has scored a total of 701 goals in all the games he appeared in. Apparently, Ronaldo has played 100 more games than his Argentinian rival. However, Messi beats Ronaldo when it comes to registering assists as he has provided nearly 50% more assists than the Portuguese forward.
Messi has played a total of 853 games in his club career providing 332 assists. On the other hand, Ronaldo has registered 223 assists in 949 appearances for the club. Despite Ronaldo having played more games than Messi, his goals per game (0.74) is less than Messi (0.84). The stats have made it clear that though Messi has played less games, he has a better rate of scoring goals than Ronaldo.
What makes Messi the Best player?
Regardless of the fact that Ronaldo holds the record for most goals in the world becoming the top leading goalscorer, Messi is way too ahead of him. Messi might not have as many goals as the Portuguese forward but he has more achievements and titles than him. Also, his heroics and goal stats show that he has a better scoring rate than Messi.
Apart from goals, Messi has a long list of awards to his name including almost every possible Football title. The Argentine giant Messi claimed a total of 7 Ballon d’or awards in his entire career beating the Portuguese forward by 2.
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.
