A thread has appeared on Twitter which is attempting to explain why Lionel Messi is a better goalscorer than Cristiano Ronaldo despite the Portuguese star scoring more goals in his career.
The thread goes into some great detail breaking the two players down into very specific categories such as ‘most goals outside the box’ and ‘most goals against the Premier League’s Top 6.’
There’s a lot in it so take your time but it’s clear to see a lot of research has gone into the thread and it’s an obvious attempt to convince you Messi is the greatest but the fact that the profile photo of the account is Lionel Messi leads us to believe that it is of course bias towards the Barcelona legend.
Either way, there is no denying that Messi and Ronaldo are the G.O.A.T.S and we’ve all been lucky enough to go along for the ride so take a look at the numbers and see what you think – Messi or Ronaldo?
Most goals in a single season.
Most goals in a single season:
Lionel Messi – 73
Cristiano Ronaldo – 61Messi holds the all time record for most goals scored in a single season. pic.twitter.com/gG8vBbVN2f
— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals in a calendar year.
Most Goals in a calendar year
Lionel Messi – 91
Cristiano Ronaldo – 69Messi holds the all time record for the most goals scored in a single year.
(Ronaldo is 5th of all time) pic.twitter.com/3WNehJUMk2— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most golden boots.
Golden Boots (European leading scorer):
Lionel Messi – 6
Cristiano Ronaldo – 4Messi holds the record for most golden boot wins in history,
in addition to most total league top scorer awards (7). pic.twitter.com/dMMMeiDXLB— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Goals scored during the same time in La Liga.
Goals scored during Ronaldo’s time at Real Madrid (2009-2018):
Lionel Messi – 462
Cristiano Ronaldo – 443No player has scored more goals than Messi in that time frame. pic.twitter.com/OIpGTtdzVq
— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
All-time career goals ratio.
All time career goals to game ratio:
Lionel Messi
895 Appearances
719 Goals
0.80 RatioCristiano Ronaldo
1,041 Appearances (*most games played out of all top 20 leading goalscorers in history)
760 Goals
0.72 Ratio pic.twitter.com/cypHt6d7pz— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Club career goals.
Club career:
Lionel Messi
753 Appearances
648 Goals
79 Penalties scored
48 Free Kick goals
48 Hat-tricks
0.86 Goal ratio
(95 mins per goal)Cristiano Ronaldo
871 Appearances
658 Goals
122 Penalties scored
46 Free Kick goals
47 Hat-tricks
0.76 Goal ratio
(108 mins per goal) pic.twitter.com/0TsSmWh2Rg— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals outside the box.
Who is better in shooting from outside the box?
All time career:
Messi – 70 outside the box goals
Ronaldo – 55 outside the box goalsAll time club:
Messi – 62
Ronaldo – 44League:
Messi – 44
Ronaldo – 34UCL:
Messi – 13
Ronaldo – 8Cups:
Messi – 5
Ronaldo – 2 pic.twitter.com/GuBkRvJnbV— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most hat-tricks.
Hat-tricks:
Messi has already scored more club hattricks despite playing far less games, but is still only 2 behind overall in 146 less career games.
*Messi: 13 of his 54 hattricks included a penalty goal (only 24%)
Ronaldo: 30 of his 56 hattricks included a penalty goal (52%) pic.twitter.com/NJTGVF01ge
— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals from open play?
How are they doing from open play?
Lionel Messi
569 goals in 895 career appearances
520 goals in 753 club appsCristiano Ronaldo
571 goals in 1,041 career appearances
489 goals in 871 club apps pic.twitter.com/zc1qg4NgEO— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most non-penalty goals.
Non-penalty goals:
Lionel Messi
623 goals in 895 career appearances
568 goals in 753 club appsCristiano Ronaldo
627 goals in 1,041 career appearances
536 goals in 871 club apps pic.twitter.com/tMKG0znFvv— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most 50+ non-penalty goals in a single season.
Note: Lionel Messi is the only player ever to score 50+ non-penalty goals in a single season more than once. He has done it 3 different times: 11/12, 12/13, 14/15.
Ronaldo has never done it once in his career. pic.twitter.com/G6G64JIOeg
— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Youngest to reach scoring career milestones.
Youngest player between the two to reach every scoring career milestone:
100 goals: Messi (22 years old)
200 goals: Messi (24 y/o)
300 goals: Messi (25 y/o)
400 goals: Messi (27 y/o)
500 goals: Messi (28 y/o)
600 goals: Messi (30 y/o)
700 goals: Messi (33 5 days y/o)
800: ⏳🔜 pic.twitter.com/Yh8cZ9NFtf— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Least amount of appearance to 100 Champions League goals.
Appearances needed for 100 Champions League goals:
Lionel Messi
123 Appearances
100 GoalsCristiano Ronaldo
141 Appearances
100 GoalsLionel Messi is the quickest player to ever reach 100 Champions League goals.
All time UCL goal ratio:
Messi – 0.81
Ronaldo – 0.76 pic.twitter.com/HkZi3LoTaY— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals against top sides.
Goals against top sides in their careers:
VS Top 3 sides:
Messi – 40 goals in 54 apps
Ronaldo – 28 goals in 62 appsTop 4 sides:
LM – 66 goals in 82
CR – 51 goals in 95Top 5 sides:
LM – 90 goals in 110
CR – 82 goals in 127Top 6 sides:
LM – 111 goals in 135
CR – 108 in 158 pic.twitter.com/JDn4X77DDW— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals against the Premier League’s Top 6.
Goals scored vs Premier League top 6 teams:
Lionel Messi
34 Matches
26 Goals
6 Braces
2 HattricksCristiano Ronaldo (spent 6 seasons in PL)
81 Matches
28 Goals
4 Braces
0 Hattricks pic.twitter.com/6CLLXeuMzu— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals scored in finals.
Goals scored in finals:
Lionel Messi
41 Games
29 goals (most of all time)Cristiano Ronaldo
34 Games
19 Goals (4th in history) pic.twitter.com/WSoRlRs8Je— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021
Most goals scored on consecutive match days.
Most consecutive matchdays scored in:
Lionel Messi – 21 games in a row in 12/13, the all time record
(33 goals in the run)Cristiano Ronaldo – 11 in 19/20, ranked 12th of all time
(16 goals in the run) pic.twitter.com/sbfo1g2LWC— Culé 🏴 (@MessiScored) January 25, 2021