If you were to ask any soccer fan who the best player of all time is, they would tell you either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi, however, dominates in most aspects, making him nothing other than the best “football” player of all time.
Born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD), making him significantly smaller than the rest of the boys he played with. Regardless of his complications, he was recruited at the age of 8 to the youth academy of Newell’s Old Boys In Argentina.
Growth Hormone Deficiency made it hard for Messi to follow his passion since he would require medical assistance. Messi’s parents, Jorge Messi and Celia Maria Cuccittini, would find it impossible to pay for his growth-hormone injections to help him grow.
At the tender age of 13, FC Barcelona changed young Messi’s entire life. They offered to not only pay for his medical bills, but to sign Messi to their youth academy. In a heartbeat, Messi and his family moved to Catalonia, Spain.
On October 16, 2004, Lionel Messi made his first appearance with the official FC Barcelona team.
Messi continued his entire career with Barca, putting him where he is today: the best to have ever played for Barca, the best to have ever played for Argentina’s Men’s National Team, and the best to have ever played professional football.
That brings us to a common debate amongst football fans, “Who’s better: Messi or Ronaldo?” Cristiano Ronaldo is another football superpower, yet slightly less marvelous than Messi.
Portuguese-born, rags-to-riches cliche, Cristiano Ronaldo, has also had an amazing career, and if Messi didn’t exist, he would easily be the best to have ever played. Unfortunately for CR7, Messi does exist. Not only does he exist, but just talking numbers, Messi reigns supreme.
According to Messivsronaldo.net, In 1014 appearances for club and country (excluding friendlies), Ronaldo has only 737 goals. According to the same source, in only 869 games, Messi has an astonishing 704 goals. To put that into perspective, in 277 games less, Messi is only 33 goals away from outscoring CR7.
Scoring goals is one thing, but what about assists? In those same 1014 appearances, Ronaldo has a mere 223 assists. Unsurprisingly enough, Messi has more assists at 298 in his 869 appearances.
Messi has a total goal contribution (goals and assists) of 1002 goals in his 869 and Ronaldo has contributed 960 goals in his 1014 games.
Not only does Messi have more Goal contributions, he has more trophies than his Portuguese counterpart. Messivsronaldo.app states that Messi has 34 trophies, some of which are 6 FIFA world player of the year awards, 6 Ballon D’ors, 6 European gold shoes, 4 Champions Leagues, and 10 league titles.
Ronaldo has only 32 trophies, including 5 FIFA world player of the year awards, 5 Ballon D’ors, 4 European gold shoes, 5 Champions Leagues, and 7 league titles. The only titles that Ronaldo beats Messi in are the Champions League by 1 Trophy, Club World Cup by 1 trophy, and major international trophies by 1 trophy.
Messi has not won a major international trophy with Argentina yet; however, Messi has broken 23 world records. Cristiano Ronaldo has won one international competition with Portugal but has only broken 18 world records.
If pure numbers haven’t convinced you, Messi is endorsed as the best footballer by Steven Gerrard, Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo Nazario (R9), Diego Maradona, “El Rey” Pele, and even the now-deceased Kobe Bryant.
“He’s one of the greatest athletes of all time – his tenacity, intelligence with which he plays as well as his skill…It just puts him head and shoulders above the rest,” said Bryant.
These two wonderful players have come into the game and changed it forever, and there’s no denying that both are incredible. At the end of the day, Messi beats Ronaldo in almost every aspect of the beautiful game.
https://www.biography.com/athlete/lionel-messi
https://fbref.com/en/players/d70ce98e/Lionel-Messi
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