Ronaldo or Messi. Like Maradona or Pele before them, it is the argument for the ages when it comes to modern football fans. Both players score more goals in one season than most enjoy in a whole career and comparing them on this alone can sometimes be a fruitless task. Getting beyond those initial goal numbers is the key, and helps to show why Ronaldo, and not Messi, is the fun packed player that any team cannot do without. I mean, why would you want the modern day sensible man’s Pele when you can have the excitement and unpredictability of 2014’s Maradona? Exactly. 

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1. European Golden Shoe in Two Different Leagues

Ronaldo has actually played in three different leagues to Messi’s one, and by virtue of his thirst to take his skills on a tour of Europe, he has managed to win the prize for Europe’s top scorer on two occasions in separate leagues. His first award came in 2007/08 for Manchester United, in what was arguably his best season in club football. The Portuguese striker notched 31 times in the league in 34 appearances (three were off the bench), as United romped to the league title. To add to this he also scored 8 goals in eleven Champions League games, including one in the final in Moscow. The second award came in 2010/11, when he had moved on to Spain with Real Madrid. A ridiculous haul of 40 league goals in 34 league appearances was only bettered by the fact that the total across all competitions was 53 goals in 54 games.

2. Ronaldo is Worth More Money

Messi is like that guy you used go to school with that arrived from overseas in primary school and now has no desire to leave. As such, it means that no transfer fee has ever been spent on a player that seems destined to stay at the Nou Camp for his entire career. Ronaldo, on the other hand, is a veritable globetrotter having moved from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United for £12.2 million before the world record smashing £80 million transfer from United to Real Madrid. It means £92.2 million more has been spent on Ronaldo than Messi.

3. Ronaldo has More Goals per Minute in La Liga

Ever since Real Madrid splashed out some £80 million on Ronaldo in the summer of 2009, it has become a constant competition between the two to score more goals than the other. Now, even though Lionel Messi has a better goals to game ratio since Ronaldo arrived, the Portuguese has the superior record when it comes how many minutes it takes to score each goal. Ronaldo hits the back of a net on average once every 79 minutes, whereas it takes Messi 10 minutes longer to score.

4. Ronaldo is Deadly From Free Kicks

One of Ronaldo’s major assets is the way that he hits a dead ball, and it means that anything within almost 40 yards of the posts is fair game for the striker. This has translated to a total of 41 goals from free kicks over his entire career of 504 games at both club and international level, as of this writing. Messi, in comparison, has scored from just 15 free kicks and even though he still has a few years on Ronaldo, it’ll be some effort to catch up.

5. Ronaldo is Better on the World Stage

It’s the eve of the biggest tournament on the planet and Messi still can’t profess to have scored even half as many goals as Ronaldo in major international tournaments. Across 24 games in either the European Championship or World Cup, Portugal’s favourite son has scored a total of eight goals. In comparison, the Argentinean has three goals in 18 games across the Copa America and World Cup.

6. Ronaldo Scores More Headers

To be considered the best player of this or any generation, one must have a set of tools that makes you a threat in any position – something that Cristiano Ronaldo has when goals are concerned. This is especially the case when in the air, where he has developed a leap that an Olympic gymnast would be proud of. It has meant scoring SIX TIMES as many headed goals as his arch nemesis. As of the end of the 2014 La Liga seasons winds down, the Portuguese superstar has scored 60 of his goals with his head compared to Messi’s 14.

7. Ronaldo Has More International Goals

When it comes to Lionel Messi and his national team, it rarely “works” – the polar opposite of the kind of impact Ronaldo has had for Portugal. This is most notably obvious when the goals column is compared. Messi has hit the back of the net 37 times in 83 caps and as you’ll find out, most of these have not been in games that count for much. Ronaldo, on the other hand, is one off his half century (49 goals) in 110 caps, and four of his most recent goals directly influenced his country’s path into the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

These are the facts we have now, we are still looking up for facts that will tell us if the Argentina little Magician Lionel Messi is better than Portugal's king of soccer CR7. 

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