Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo are considered to be two of the best soccer players who ever lived. Many argue which one of them is the best to have ever played the sport, and in my opinion Messi is better. 

Messi was born on June 24, 1986 in Argentina. He started playing soccer when he was five for a club his dad coached. When Messi was 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. Despite his growth deficiency, he had one of the best soccer careers of all time. 

Ronaldo was born Feb. 5, 1985 in Portugal. He started playing soccer when he was ten because his dad had a job and needed a soccer manager. Ronaldo has won many awards and played many games. 

One reason Messi is a better player then Ronaldo is because Messi is a better person. Ronaldo left the stadium while a game was still going on after not getting the playing time he wanted. 

Messi is more of a team player. Ronaldo and Messi are both amazing goal scorers, but Messi can also create plays and opportunities like Ronaldo can’t. Messi has 47 international assists, but Ronaldo only has 41. Messi is also younger than Ronaldo, but he still has more assists in international games. According to Messi vs Ronaldo, Messi has created 392 chances, but Ronaldo has created 176 chances in the Champions League. 

Furthermore, Ronaldo has a consistent record of not getting back to help his defense like Messi does. According to Messi vs Ronaldo, Messi averages 0.65 tackles per 90 minutes, compared to Ronaldo’s 0.38 tackles per 90 minutes. 

Men’s soccer has some toxic stereotypes associated with it.  Many say that men’s soccer players flop or act like they are hurt to get a foul called. Ronaldo sometimes flops, which only furthers the stereotypes. Messi does not flop, instead he plays though the physicality of the game no matter his growth deficiency. 

Messi has scored nine goals in the world cup, but Ronaldo has only scored eight. Therefore, Messi has more success in what people consider to be the most important soccer tournament. 

Messi has scored 60 free kicks in his entire career, but Ronaldo only scored 58. Free kicks are very important. Messi’s free kick success rate is 8.9% compared to Ronaldo’s 6.2% success rate. 

The Ballon d’Or is an award granted to whoever is voted the best soccer player for that year. Messi has won the Ballon d’Or seven times since he started playing soccer. However, Ronaldo has only won the award five times. This is a very hard award to get, so the fact that Messi has won it more than Ronaldo is a direct correlation to skill. 

However, many argue that Ronaldo is the better player because he has more international goals. Ronaldo has 118 international goals, but Messi only has 94 international goals. However, Messi’s average minutes per goal scored is 96. but Ronaldo has 102 average minutes per goal. This means that Messi scores more goals for the time that he has played international games. 

The 2020 Qatar World Cup is currently going on, and neither Ronaldo or Messi have ever won it. They both have claimed that this will be their last world cup. As neither of these teams have been eliminated, the pressure to see if one of them will finally win  is very intense. Some could say that if one of them wins this world cup, that they would be the real greatest soccer player of all time.