Looking back on the 2014-2015 football season, there’s one question on everyone’s mind: who played better, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? Let’s look at the statistics.
While Messi has two more total appearance than Ronaldo (56 and 54, respectively), Ronaldo still scored 3 more goals than him. Cristiano had a goal-per-appearance ratio of 1.13, compared to Messi’s ratio of 1.04 goals per game. Looking at individual competitions, Ronaldo performed better in both La Liga and UCL but fell short in other cups, only scoring an average of .43 goals per game while Messi scored .84 goals per game.
Ronaldo may have had the upper hand in overall goals, but Messi is the clear winner in assists. Overall, Messi has an assist-per-appearance ratio of .48, while Ronaldo only had .41 assists per appearance. Further, in each competition type, Messi came out ahead. However, they were very close in La Liga, where Ronaldo had .46 assists-per-appearance, narrowly beaten by Messi’s .47 per appearance.
With La Liga representing the majority of all appearances, Cristiano can certainly claim he performed better there, as he scored over 10% more goals than Messi and had almost as many assists per appearance. For UCL, Messi was the clear winner as both had the same number of goals, but he came out ahead on assists.
So who was the better performer overall? It depends on how much you value goals vs assists. We say Ronaldo due to his overall goals and close assist rate in La Liga, but a strong case could be made for Messi as well.
Who is the best?
This infographic shows the statistics of two great players. Ronaldo has shown his performance in more than one club so that is one thing that goes in his favor but Messi is a natural footballer who possesses high quality and unmatchable able skills. It is hard for us to pick the one out of these two legends.
Source: Tickets Move
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