Ronaldo or Messi: who really is the better player?

Dominic Runghen / staff reporter

A rivalry between 2 soccer gods may be coming to an end as they are getting closer and closer towards retirement. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been talked about for many years and their competitiveness towards each other. Their respect for one another is amazing to see but the rivalry is even better. A question and debate that has been nonstop, who is better? I highly respect both as they have managed to make soccer as entertaining as it is. In this article I will be breaking down the facts, hopefully coming to a decision of who is better.

Let us start out with Messi.

Lionel Messi has been well known since the age of 13, when he and his family moved from Grandoli Argentina to Barcelona joining their academy. As good as he was, he would work up his way up the ranks until the age of 16 he was given a friendly match with the official Barcelona team. A year after he went on to become the youngest player to score a goal in La Liga. Lionel Messi | Biography & Facts | Britannica.

Messi and his family were not very wealthy growing up, as a matter of fact, according to Hale Hendricks from life bogger, Lionel Messi Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts (lifebogger.com), “few years after Messi was born, the south American country was at the brink of economic collapse. This was due to Argentina’s inability to pay debts. For this reason, hyperinflation, devaluation of the peso and riots became the order of the day”.

Due to Messi’s magic, he was able to help his family out with millions of dollars as he has a net worth of 600 million dollars. In Messi’s career, he has played over 900 games and has scored 732 goals with an astonishing 308 assists. MessiStats – Lionel Messi Statistics – Games played (starplayerstats.com).

An article on Messi stated that “he earned renown as one of the greatest players in history, helping his club win more than two dozen league titles and tournament”. Lionel Messi – Stats, Family & Facts – Biography. Not only is he amazing on the soccer pitch, but he also takes a big part in charity, one time he donated 4 and a half million dollars to his home country/

What about Ronaldo?

Well Ronaldo is known all over the world, he is known for his special talent when it comes to soccer and many people admire his physic. Ronaldo grew up in madeira Portugal where he and his family struggled financially. Unfortunately, his father passed away when Ronaldo was only 20 years old due to an alcohol problem. Who is Cristiano Ronaldo’s dad, what was his job and how old was the Juventus star when he died? – The Sun.

Ronaldo started his debut in 2002 at the age of 16 for sporting Lisbon where his historical career began. After an amazing season, Sir Alex Ferguson the coach of Manchester united saw loads of potential in this Portuguese kid and ended up signing Ronaldo to the team one year after his first season at sporting in 2002. He made himself known and wanted by all clubs eventually joining real Madrid in 2009.

After winning immense victories he took his career to Italy many years later joining Juventus as a new challenge. Even though he has had a long career, Ronaldo has yet to let age stop him as he is still shining. Due to his success it started to attract many companies and he ended up staring in many commercials, Nike started to sponsor Ronaldo and even gave him his own shoe every year call the cr7.

Now he has developed so much that he has his own cologne and lifestyle shoe. Ronaldo isn’t just an amazing soccer player, he is always donating to charity to help people who aren’t as fortunate as him. Ronaldo has played over 1000 games and continues to excel. He has officially passed Pele with the most goals scored in soccer history with an estimated 805 goals Cristiano Ronaldo: Pele congratulates Juventus star for surpassing Brazilian’s ‘record of goals in official matches’ – CNN.

Ronaldo and Messi have been playing for more than 17 years and have achieved many great rewards that people would dream of getting.

Ronaldo achievements: Messi achievement:

2 best FIFA men’s players 4 champions league trophies

3 best players in Europe 3 UEFA best player awards

17 top scorers 20 top scorer awards

5 player of the year 10 players of the year awards

10 footballer of the year 3 FIFA club world cups

1 European cup 10 Spanish champion trophies

5 champions league 6 Spanish cup winner

3 English champions 3 UEFA super cup

1 fa cup 1 gold medal

3-time English cup champions 1 under 20 world cup champion

2 Spanish champions 8 Spanish super cups

2 Spanish cup winner 6 Ballon D’ors

2 Spanish super cup winner

2 Italian champions

2 Italian super cup winner

4 FIFA club world cup winner

1 UEFA nations league champion

3-time UEFA super cup winner

5 Ballon D’ors

Now for the part you have all been waiting for, who is better?

After all the information found, “I have come to a conclusion of who is better. It was not easy but after lots of thought I am going to say Lionel Messi is a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo”. This is because even though Ronaldo has much higher stats than Messi, he has played over 140 games more than Messi and he is also much taller and stronger.

Messi is not even 100 goals behind Ronaldo while having 140 game difference and has basically had the same amount of success or even more. For example, Messi has won 6 balloon doors which means he was considered the best player in the world 6 times. Its very close but Ronaldo unfortunately falls short of 1 balloon d’or to Messi.

The reason this debate is so hard is because many people say that Cristiano Ronaldo has played in 4 different leagues and Messi has only played in 1. My counter argument is Ronaldo has scored most of his career goals at Real Madrid which is in the same league as Barcelona A.K.A Messi’s team.

Another reason people say Ronaldo is better is because Messi has been playing for Barcelona for his entire career which is why they think Messi has a huge advantage. For those of you who do not understand Barcelona is known as one of the best soccer teams in the world, during Messi’s career he has played with some of the best players in soccer history.

I think that should not be apart of the argument because when Ronaldo was on Manchester united, they were considered one of the best teams in the world. Also, Messi has scored many goals against teams in other leagues in many different competitions such as champions league, world cup, euro cup and many more. And lastly, I feel that Messi is better because he has suffered from much more injuries than Ronaldo meaning it gave Cristiano extra time to extend his lead from Messi.

“My favorite player”

You all might be thinking that Messi is my favorite player, well your wrong, in fact Cristiano Ronaldo is probably one of my favorite players ever, and no I’m not afraid to admit Messi is better. I prefer Cristiano Ronaldo more because I feel as if he has a way better personality than Messi, Cristiano is always helping out with charity and always makes people feel good about themselves. I prefer Ronaldo because his work ethic is really inspiring, and it makes me want to be as successful as him. Ronaldo always has a new soccer cleats every year called the cr7s and they are probably my top 5 favorites cleats.

I asked a couple people who are very high leveled soccer players on who they think is better and here are their thoughts:

mountain fc soccer player Matteo Daddabo thinks “Messi is a better player than Ronaldo due to the fact that he holds the record for most goals in a season which was a whopping 50 goals”. Messi was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency at the age of 11. Matteo “loves the fact that he could overcome that obstacle and still found a way to become the best player in the world”. And lastly “Matteo really admires Messi due to his passion for soccer and his desire to win at all costs”.

Whitecap’s residency soccer player Cole Toupin thinks “Lionel Messi is a better player than Ronaldo because he is an amazing team play with outstanding sportsmanship. He really admires the amount of skill and talent he has”, “its almost unbelievable” he stated. “also, Messi is not as tall or as strong as Ronaldo, but he is still able to dribble through the whole team as well as other things that even legends from the past couldn’t do”. Lastly Cole thinks “Messi is better because he has more Ballon D’ors than Ronaldo, as a matter of fact he has the most ever”.

After this article I hope you guys have came to a conclusion of who you think is better, I would just like to say that I really respect both of the players and I think the soccer community, as well as soccer the industry has to thank these two players because of how exciting they have made the game. It breaks my heart to see the two best players in soccer history coming close to retirement. Thank you, Messi, and Ronaldo, for inspiring us to be better players and for leaving a big footprint on the earth.

sources

Lionel Messi – Titles & achievements | Transfermarkt

MessiStats – Lionel Messi Statistics – Games played (starplayerstats.com)

Lionel Messi | Biography & Facts | Britannica

Who is Cristiano Ronaldo’s dad, what was his job and how old was the Juventus star when he died? – The Sun

https://sitesmatrix.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Q6wos21.jpg

https://www.medianigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Messi-Wins-Ballon-dOr-2019.jpg

Cristiano Ronaldo: Pele congratulates Juventus star for surpassing Brazilian’s ‘record of goals in official matches’ – CNN.

Lionel Messi Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts (lifebogger.com)

Cristiano Ronaldo – Goals, Assists & Stats | FootyStat

Cristiano Ronaldo | Biography & Facts | Britannica

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/191030082027-messi-exlarge-169.jpg