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What's the story?
Gaming giants EA Sports' FIFA 18 has rated Lionel Messi higher than his perennial rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the most recent 'Team of the Week' cards, with the Argentine great being given a rating of 95, which puts him higher than Ronaldo, who has a rating of 94.
In case you didn't know...
The game FIFA 18 has rating cards for all the players in the game with different attributes like Passing, Shooting, Pace, Dribbling, etc being rated out of 100 points. The makers release Team of the Week (TOTW) cards every week, that features the top performers from across the world.
The heart of the matter
Messi was rewarded with EA Sports' rating system for his incredible display on the field and raced ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in the rating cards.
After Messi helped Barcelona defeat Real Madrid 3-0 in the El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu, the Argentine superstar received a Team of the Week (TOTW) card that was rated better than Ronaldo. Messi's card was 95 points in comparison to Ronaldo who was rated one point lower at 94.
Messi's rating showed him ahead of Ronaldo in the pace, passing and dribbling attributes whereas the two superstars matched equally in the shooting attribute. The only two ratings that Ronaldo beat Messi at was the physicality and the defensive attributes.
What's next?
The nominees for the FIFA 18 Team of the Year for 2017 have also been announced, with the final list of winners also expected to release later this month.
Author's take
It is not surprising to see Messi receive this boost after his dominant display in the El Clasico. All eyes will now be on the Team of the Year, which is expected to be another battle between the iconic duo.
