*Updated 2023
The current era of soccer is dominated by two giants: Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo, the current captain of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr FC and formerly of Man UTD, Juventus and Real Madrid, and Argentinian phenom Lionel Messi, formerly of FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-German and who recently announced his decision to join America’s Inter Miami. The two nemeses have scooped almost every individual award throughout the past two decades, and despite their advanced ages (38 and about-to-turn 36, respectively, as of 2023), they show no signs of slowing down. Each of their performances in the 2022 Fifa World Cup, especially Messi, who’s team won the finals, confirms that they are still in their prime. However, as there can be only one, which of them is the best? The legendary Ronaldo or the one-team man Messi?
Here are three arguments for each side:
Team Messi:
Advanced statistics prove Messi is better
Both Ronaldo and Messi have impressive stats, but a closer look at them proves Messi makes better decisions and, more importantly, brings greater value to his team. Using a framework that was originally developed for baseball, The Economist once rated Messi’s and Ronaldo’s goals based on their context and importance. Over the years, Messi has continually managed to outscore Ronaldo in the last minutes of the game, otherwise known as injury-time goals.
Moreover, Messi makes better decisions. Using a complex algorithm, a company called GoodCall values a player’s decision-making and Efficiency Per Match (EPM). This entails valuing each pass, shot, chance created or a dribble made by players, and then rating the player’s decision-making and efficiency. Messi’s EPM and decision-making rate have been higher than Ronaldo’s, over time.
Messi is a better team player
Messi is not only an incredible scorer and gifted playmaker, he also makes everyone around him a better player. A true leader, he brings his team together. Not only does he have more assists and key passes than Ronaldo, he is always using his phenomenal vision to keep his teammates involved. He has great tactical intelligence, finding free spaces to move into, receiving the ball and then laying it off to a team-mate, to build attacks.
While Ronaldo is more of an executor, who plays high up the pitch and scores great goals when given the chance, Messi, who can do that just as well, is also comfortable dropping deep and keeping possession of the ball with his team. From these positions, he can send his colleagues on dangerous runs with pin-point passes, like he did in the 2022 World Cup game against Croatia. This versatility makes him that much better than Ronaldo.
Messi’s magic
Messi and Ronaldo differ mostly in their style. Ronaldo is a machine. He is an explosive player, with abnormal physical abilities and a huge amount of talent. Tall and strong and certainly one of the greatest players, Ronaldo doesn’t possess Messi’s magic. The Argentine is a greater natural talent. He is a virtuoso, a magician. His dribbling is considered to be the best the game has ever seen, and he passes and shoots the ball with the precision of a brain surgeon. He makes eye-popping moves that leave people speechless and overwhelmed. Seeing him weave his way through a team’s defense and then put the ball past the keeper is just something special.
Team Ronaldo:
Ronaldo is more advanced player
Nowadays, soccer is more dynamic and athletic than ever. The game has become faster, stronger and more demanding in most aspects of physicality. While Messi might have more talent, Ronaldo’s combination of physical and technical abilities just makes him better. He is 6’’1 of pure Portuguese muscle. This means he’s very hard to push off the ball. Ronaldo’s combination of dizzying pace, great dribbling and powerful shooting with either foot terrorizes defenses.
He is simply a better fit for today’s game. His athleticism is second to none; he combines dizzying pace with powerful shooting and jumping ability of an NBA star, which makes his headers a serious threat to the opposition. And he’s doing it at the same level even in his late-30s. Ronaldo, more than Messi, is the ideal model for the next generation of players.
Ronaldo is the driving force behind his team
Messi has an advantage over Ronaldo: Messi has won more titles mostly because he plays for a better team, not because he is a better player than Ronaldo. Throughout his entire career, Messi played for arguably the best side to ever play the game. Unlike Ronaldo’s team experiences, Messi’s Barcelona teammates know each other blindly, since most of them have played together since they were 10 years old, always the same style and formation.
This is not to say that Ronaldo’s teammates on both teams were bad. They were great, but just not as great as Messi’s during the majority of his career. For example, Messi has played with Neymar Jr. (who is arguably the best player following Messi and Ronaldo) and Luis Suarez, two of the best forwards of the century, and with Xavi Hernandez and Andrés Iniesta, two of the most dominating center-midfielders of our era. While Messi has the added value of an unforgettable team, Ronaldo is the driving factor of his teams. Messi is like Tim Duncan of the Spurs, while Ronaldo is like LeBron James in Cleveland.
The international paradigm:
Ronaldo’s international career puts him on a higher level than Messi. In fact, before the 2022 World Cup, Messi never won an international trophy. He lost finals in both the Copa America (the South America championship) and the World Cup 2014. In addition, Ronaldo has better international goalscoring stats in competitive international games than Messi (102 goals compared to Messi’s 54), and even led his Portugal side to win the 2016 European Championship. And let’s not forget that Ronaldo is also the higher paid football player of the two, which proves his higher worth.
The Bottom Lines: Ronaldo or Messi? On one side, Messi is a better team player and simply more talented. On the other hand, Ronaldo is a more complete athlete with a better international career. Let us know you stand, Team Messi or Team Ronaldo?
