Messi vs Ronaldo! The stats comparison between two football legends...

In football conversations usually arises the discussion over who is better… if Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Let's analyze the global figures that both players have produced throughout their careers.

We can see that Leo Messi's scoring average in his entire career (0.82) is 0.1 percentage points higher than Cristiano Ronaldo's (0.72).

Cristiano Ronaldo has played 147 games more than Leo Messi in his entire career and has scored only 25 goals more than the Argentinian.

Also, Leo Messi has given 60 assists more than Cristiano Ronaldo in his entire career, making a total of 960 goals generated in 834 games (1.15 goals generated by game). 

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has generated 925 goals in 981 games, for a total of 0.94 goals generated by game in his entire career.

Adding goals and assists we can affirm that, in his entire career, Leo Messi has generated 35 goals more than Cristiano Ronaldo, despite having played 147 matches less.

How do they score? Parts of the body...

Leo Messi scores 8 of every 10 goals with his left foot, using his right foot to score 1 of every 8 goals. Due to his height, he only scores 1 of every 28 goals using a header.

The two goals that Messi has scored with other parts of the body were with his hand vs Espanyol on June 9, 2007 in La Liga, and with his chest in 2009 Mundialito final against Estudiantes de La Plata.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores 6 of every 10 goals with his right foot, 2 of every 10 goals with his left foot and 2 of every 10 goals with a header.

Due to his size, and because Cristiano jumps higher, he is much more powerful in this aspect than the Argentinian.

Apart from these more conventional goals, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal with his elbow against Athletic Bilbao in the 2014/2015 season.

The other "unusual" goal by Cristiano Ronaldo was scored (literally) with his dick, as pointed out by the user Kaos88 in the Spanish comments on this page.

Goal types: Open play, free kick, penalty…

Leo Messi scores 8 of every 10 goals in open play. His set-pieces goals are distributed as follows: 1 of every 8 goals from the penalty spot and 1 of every 13 goals via free-kick.

Cristiano Ronaldo also scores 8 of every 10 goals in open play, but his set-pieces goals are distributed in a different way: 1 of every 6 goals from the penalty spot and 1 of every 13 goals via free-kick.

Home? Away? Where do they score?

Leo Messi scores approximately 6 of every 10 goals at home and 4 of every 10 goals away. 

A small percentage of his goals, 1 of every 21 goals, have been scored in the neutral field, either in finals or in competitions such as World Cup, Clubs World Cup, Copa America, etc.

Cristiano Ronaldo presents practically identical figures in this respect. CR7 scores approximately 5 of every 10 goals at home and 4 of every 10 goals away. 

A small percentage of his goals, 1 of every 18 goals, have been scored in the neutral field.