The argument over whether Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi or vice-versa has raged for over a decade, but there is a stage where one is the undisputed victor.
In 2012, when Messi won his fourth-straight Ballon d’Or title, it seemed inevitable that the Barcelona star would finish his career far ahead of his arch-rival, who had just one Golden Ball to his name.
But Ronaldo has since claimed four of the last five awards in the ensuing years to leave them tied on five apiece. His recent dominance of football’s most prestigious individual prize has been down to his success in the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo has overcome a slow start to become a Champions League specialist
Lionel Messi stormed the European stage early on but is now struggling to find his best form
Ronaldo’s goalscoring form in the last six seasons has seen him overtake Messi
The 33-year-old has finished as either the tournament’s top goalscorer or joint-top scorer in each of the last six campaigns and lifted the trophy with Real Madrid on four of those occasions.
Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Ronaldo has hit a scarcely believable 83 goals in 76 games, a formidable strike-rate that has seen him become by far and away the tournament’s all-time top goalscorer.
Before the start of 2011, when he broke double figures in the competition for the first time, it was Messi who shone brightest on that stage. The Argentine finished top scorer in the competition four years running between 2008 and 2012, coinciding with his run of four straight Ballon d’Or titles.
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Games | Goals | Total | Games | Goals | Total |
| 2003-04 | 5 | 0 | 0 | DID NOT PLAY | ||
| 2004-05 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005-06 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| 2006-07 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| 2007-08 | 11 | 8* | 11 | 9 | 6 | 8 |
| 2008-09 | 12 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 9* | 17 |
| 2009-10 | 6 | 7 | 22 | 11 | 8* | 25 |
| 2010-11 | 12 | 6 | 28 | 13 | 12* | 37 |
| 2011-12 | 10 | 10 | 38 | 11 | 14* | 51 |
| 2012-13 | 12 | 12* | 50 | 11 | 8 | 59 |
| 2013-14 | 11 | 17* | 67 | 7 | 8 | 67 |
| 2014-15 | 12 | 10** | 77 | 13 | 10** | 77 |
| 2015-16 | 12 | 16* | 93 | 7 | 6 | 83 |
| 2016-17 | 13 | 12* | 105 | 9 | 11 | 94 |
| 2017-18 | 13 | 15* | 120 | 10 | 6 | 100 |
| 2018-19 | 3 | 1 | 121 | 2 | 5 | 105 |
| *Competition’s top scorer **Joint-top scorers | ||||||
By the end of that fourth year, Messi had 51 Champions League goals compared to Ronaldo’s 38, a healthy lead of 13.
But the tide began to turn in 2012-13 when Ronaldo ended Messi’s run as both the Champions League top-scorer and Ballon d’Or winner. He scored 12 goals in Europe compared to Messi’s eight and won his second Golden Ball with 27.99 per cent of the votes.
When Real Madrid finally sealed La Decima in 2013-14, it was Ronaldo’s astonishing 17 goals throughout the campaign that lead them to the final. With Messi scoring a comparatively paltry eight in that season, the 13-goal lead he enjoyed two years previous was wiped out. They were tied on 67 each.
Anyone intent on winning the Ballon d’Or will know that finishing as top scorer in the Champions League will generally get you there. Each of the last 11 Ballon d’Or winners have been either top scorer or joint-top scorer in that season.
Messi was a revelation for Barcelona in the Champions League during his early days
Messi finished top scorer in the competition four seasons in a row between 2009 and 2012
Messi last won the Champions League title and finished top scorer in a triumphant 2014-15
| PLAYER | GOALS |
|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 121 |
| Lionel Messi | 105 |
| Raul | 71 |
| Karim Benzema | 59 |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy | 56 |
| Thierry Henry | 50 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 49 |
| Andriy Shevchenko | 48 |
| Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 48 |
| Filippo Inzaghi | 46 |
Perhaps that is why Ronaldo started to reserve his very best performances for the competition and showed no mercy against lesser opponents in the group stage. He netted four goals in an 8-0 win over Malmo in 2015 and, before that, collected group-stage hat-tricks against Ajax (2012), Galatasaray (2013) and Shakhtar Donetsk (2014).
However, what Ronaldo has achieved in the knockout stages goes far beyond what a flat-track bully could do. From his 121 goals in the Champions League, a total of 60 have come in the latter stages. He has scored 20 in the round of 16, 23 in the quarter-finals, 13 in the semi-finals and four in the final.
Ronaldo’s rise to becoming a Champions League specialist has coincided with both Messi and Barcelona struggling to assert themselves like before in Europe. They have failed to make it to the semi-finals in each of the last three seasons with Messi scoring 23 goals.
Ronaldo’s rise to become a Champions League-winning machine started with the title in 2014
He has since grown a reputation for producing his best performance in the knockout stages
Twenty three goals in three seasons is an impressive return by most measures but it pales in comparison to Ronaldo, who scored 43 goals in the same period.
The result is that Ronaldo bagged the significant milestone of reaching 100 goals in the Champions League before his rival, something he will always hold over him. He also looks likely to end his own career as top scorer as he now leads Messi by a significant 16 goals.
As Messi, 31, is over two years younger than Ronaldo, there is a good chance that he may ultimately overhaul him, especially as he still enjoys a better goalscoring rate in the Champions League (0.83 goals per game compared to 0.78).
What is certain is that neither of them will be sharing their positions in the exclusive centurion club any time soon. Karim Benzema (59 goals) and Robert Lewandowski (49) are the only players in the top 10 other than Ronaldo and Messi who are still playing in Europe.
Ronaldo has now got more Champions League goals (121) and more titles (five) than anyone