Messi VS 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. He became Barcelona's all time leading scorer at the age of 24, broke Gerd Muller's 39 year old record for the most goals scored in a single season (73), and is the all time leading scorer in La Liga.

He also broke Gerd Muller's 40 year old record for most goals in a calendar year, scoring a staggering 91 goals in 69 games for club and country in 2012.

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

Heading is one of the few aspects of Messi's game that cannot be considered a world class attribute; not surprising considering his lack of height and Barcelona's style of play.

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

Messi is simply one of, if not the best dribbler of all time. His speed of thought together with his lightning quick feet enable his extraordinary ability to enter a crowd of players and come out the other side with the ball seemingly glued to his feet.

His small build and subsequent low centre of gravity allow him to travel almost as fast with the ball as he does without it, and it is probably this quality above all others that make Lionel Messi so enjoyable to watch.

Messi's passing ability can be somewhat overlooked at times as people prefer to focus on his goals and dribbling; however, his vision and execution when searching for a team mate is up there with the very best who have played the game, past or present.

After moving deeper and wider in the 15/16 season, Messi enhanced the creative element of his game, allowing the sheer brilliance and precision of his passing to shine through. His chance creation and through ball stats continue to impress, creating 78 chances in La Liga last season (2016/17).

Messi's vision and creativity with a dead ball are what set 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.

He had his best ever season in terms of free kicks in 2015/16, netting 9 for club and country in total, more than anyone else in the world! He then followed that up with 5 free kick goals in 2016/17, including 3 in one week in January 2017!

Messi went through a couple of years of pure turmoil from the spot, scoring just 10 of 17 penalties for Barcelona over the 14/15 and 15/16 seasons (although one of these "misses" was the clever assist he provided from the spot for Suarez to knock in).

He seemed to have regained some composure in these situations during the 2016/17 season however, scoring 10 out of 11 penalties for club and country; a significant improvement on previous seasons.

His overall penalty record still doesn't come near to Ronaldo's though, with a career conversion rate of 78.7% (74 scored, 20 missed) as of the end of the 2016/17 season, compared to Ronaldo's 82.6% (95 scored, 20 missed).

At 5 foot 7 inches, Messi isn't the tallest of footballers 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.

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.

In the last couple of seasons, Messi's link up play with Neymar and Suarez has reached new heights as they all seem to settle on exactly the same wavelength. We also saw his unselfish side come into play as he would often pass up on a decent scoring opportunity to gift a team mate an easier chance, or hand them the chance to take a penalty.

Unsurprisingly, due to his lightning quick feet and skill, Messi is hacked at and kicked countless times in almost every game, but where some players would go down, Messi usually does everything he can to stay on his feet and continue the attack.

He is of course no saint and can show petulance and frustration at times, but in general, this behaviour is usually seen as the exception rather than the norm for Messi.

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 technique on the ball, his outstanding vision, as well as his effectiveness on the rest of the team.

It is these latter points that Messi fans would claim give him the edge over his rival, whose game is now very much centred around goal scoring.