Lionel Messi Vs Cristiano Ronaldo

It seems as if Lionel Messi breaks a goalscoring record every other week, such is his mindblowing knack for finding the back of the net. Last season, he became Barcelona's all time leading scorer at the age of 24 AND broke Gerd Muller's 39 year old record for the most goals scored in a single European season (73). Astonishing.

He is simply one of the greatest goalscorers of all time and will no doubt set even more practically unbreakable records throughout his career.

10/10

Heading is one of the few aspects of Messi's game that is probably not widely considered as being a world class attribute; not surprising considering his lack of height.

He is far from poor with his head though and chances are he will punish you if he's presented with a decent heading opporunity. Many will remember he famously headed his team into a 2 goal lead against Man Utd in the 2009 Champions League final.

7/10

Messi's vision and creativity with a dead ball is what sets him apart from most free-kick specialists. His ability to identify a spot and a route to that spot that eludes all opposing players in his way is simply pure class.

He perhaps lacks the force that Ronaldo can get behind a dead ball, but it's the finesse that makes his free-kicks special.

9/10

Messi's overall penalty record can almost only be considered average, having scored 20 from 27 as of February 2012.

Last season though, 14 of his total of 73 came from the penalty spot. However, he did fail with a few of his attempts, most notably against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final which would have given his side an aggregate lead in the tie.

Similarly to free-kicks, Messi probably lacks the power that Ronaldo can put into his spot kicks, which can be even more effective from 12 yards out.

8/10

Messi has a near perfect combination of technique, speed, balance and intelligence which give him the uncanny ability to sprint into a crowd of players and come out the other side with the ball still at his feet and in complete control.

Whilst Messi isn't the fastest of sprinters, the speed at which his feet can move can seem almost impossible and combined with his abundance of skill, can often create the illusion that the ball is just glued to his feet.

10/10

At 5 foot 7 inches, Messi isn't the tallest of guys and in his younger days, was in real danger of being overlooked (quite literally) due to his slight build and lack of physical prowess.

Luckily (for him and for us), his breathtaking, natural talent shone through. And his size can be quite deceptive! He is perfectly capable of holding his own against his larger opponents and can pack some serious power behind his shots.

7/10

For someone with so much skill and so many solo goals to his name, Messi has a remarkable reputation as a team player and is very rarely accused of holding onto the ball longer than he should have done. His scoring record is obviously closely matched by Ronaldo, but it's the assists count that shows a clear gap in Messi's favour.

Messi has also won the Ballon d'Or award 3 years running, but always attributes the award to his team-mates Xavi and Iniesta, highlighting Messi as a very humble man for someone of his talent.

9/10

Unsurprisingly, due to his lightning quick feet and skill, Messi is hacked at and kicked countless times almost every game, but where some players would go down, rolling around in 'agony', Messi usually does everything he can to stay on his feet and continue the attack. Even in the penalty area, Messi opts to stay upright, which says a lot about the confidence he has in his own ability.

This category gets a lot of criticism due to this being a comparison of footballing abilities. But if you watch the video below, you will see that where most players would unquestionably have gone down (including CR7), Messi goes on to score or create a chance.

9/10

The final scores highlight just how close the battle is between these 2 players and just how lucky we are to have them both playing in one generation.

Messi dropped points mainly due to his physical limitations in areas such as heading, strength and power, but he topped his opponent on natural ability and technique on the ball, as well as his effectiveness on the rest of the team.

It is perhaps the initiative he holds on the latter points that has led to the more widely accepted view that Messi is the outright, best player in the world today, and in many people's opinion - the best ever.

69/80