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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the greatest footballers of all time, who have redefined what it means to be an elite footballer forever. Though many continue to fervently vouch for Diego Maradona and Pele as the best footballers ever, the Barcelona talisman and Juventus ace have put in performances that beckon for their inclusion in the GOAT debate.
There's never going to be a definitive answer to this endless debate. But, in the decade that has gone by us, in words of one syllable, Messi and Ronaldo were the best players.
The Argentine and the Portuguese stars reached the peak of their playing careers in this period. They won everything there is to win with the club, while also becoming the top scorers for their national teams.
Between 2010 and 2019 the duo scored over 1,100 goals between them and won the prestigious Ballon d'Or on nine occasions, while also sharing the spoils at a plethora of other award ceremonies and establishing unimaginable feats on the field.
A glance at their unbelievable stats and impressive trophy count in the decade reveals that things were pretty much even between the two. But, is that really so?
Despite Messi beginning and finishing off the decade with a Ballon d'Or win and signing off for the decade with a 50-goal calendar year,it is Ronaldo who might've had a more successful decade than his left-footed adversary, contrary to what might be the popular belief.
So, without further ado, here are the four reasons why we think the 35-year-old had a better decade than his old foe.
#4 Unparalleled success at the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid
Time and again we had witnessed throughout the decade that in the UEFA Champions League, Ronaldo has been a different kind of beast.
The seven-time golden boot winner has a total of 128 goals in the competition, more than anyone else in the history of the competition. 107 of these have come between 2010-2019, making him the highest-scoring player in the competition's history in a decade.
Also on November 7, 2018, he became the only player to score a century of goals in a single decade in the competition, bringing up his century against his old club Manchester United.
Messi, on the other hand, fell just five goals short of the three-digit mark, with his tally of 95 strikes in the same period, which included quite a few worldies.
Apart from the goals, the Portuguese ace has also achieved more glory in the Champions League in the past decade than his diminutive rival.
On 26 May 2018, in his last outing with Real Madrid, Ronaldo became the first player to win five UEFA Champions League finals. It was a third consecutive triumph for the player with the Spanish giants and fourth in the decade.
In all of these title-winning runs, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was a force of nature, making the net bulge 60 times in the four campaigns proving to be the fulcrum of Los Blancos' unprecedented hat-trick of title wins.
The Argentine also tasted success at the continental event, winning it in 2011 and 2015, being the top scorer as expected in the campaigns. But he just wasn't as decisive as the former Manchester United star in fixtures that mattered. (See last season's second-leg semi-final against Liverpool)
Also Read: UEFA Champions League: All-time top-scorers in the group stage history
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#3 Left a stable life at Real Madrid for a new challenge, enjoyed instant success at Juventus
Ronaldo's €100m move to Serie A behemoths Juventus in the summer of 2018 sent shockwaves across the footballing world.
It was a bold move from the superstar, who had established himself as one of the most lethal strikers of the ball at the Santiago Bernabeu. To venture out in search of a new challenge at the age of 33 years, with his best days behind him, to the Serie A, a league notorious for its mean defences, was nothing less than a gamble.
But, he proved his mettle with the Old Lady in his very first season at the Allianz Stadium, scoring 21 goals in 31 league appearances, adding two more silverware to his already illustrious trophy cabinet in the Scudetto and the Italian Super Cup, in which he scored the winning goal in the final.
No matter the pedigree of a player, settling into a new team is never an easy task, but he made that transition seamlessly and also emerged as the key player in Juve's ranks in the previous campaign and as things stand, is the current top-scorer for them heading into the new decade.
Though La Pulga has won more domestic titles than his eternal rival, at Barcelona the game-plan has always revolved around the 32-year-old and while winning 21 titles in a decade is no small feat, we would never come to know if he could've achieved the same result as Ronaldo had he left his boyhood club.
Also read: Cristiano Ronaldo's top 5 Guinness World Records
#2 Better stats with his national team as compared to Messi
The decade saw the rise of Messi and Ronaldo to the pinnacle of the footballing world, both with their clubs and with their national teams as well.
Both prolific forwards became the all-time leading top scorers for their respective national sides, taking their tally to 70 with Argentina and 99 with Portugal respectively.
Since the turn of the decade, Ronaldo has scored a total of 77 goals for his country, seven more than Messi's lifetime tally and had four years in the decade in which he posted double-digit figures.
Interestingly, he was the most lethal in front of the goal in the final year of the decade, 2019, scoring 14 goals, which included his recent exploits in the EURO 2020 qualification rounds.
Although Messi had taken two short breaks away from the international fold, which might've hurt his chances to catch up with Ronaldo, it should be noted that Best Portuguese Player of All Time had also missed out six games after his UEFA Nations League triumph in June.
#1 Ronaldo finally lifted a major trophy with Portugal, while Messi failed even after reaching three finals
For years, the only thing that continued to blight the otherwise remarkable careers of these incredible players, who share 11 Ballon d'Ors among them, was success at the international level.
This changed in 2016 when Portugal won the first major title in their history, with Ronaldo playing a pivotal role in their title-run in Euro 2016.
Ronaldo can now be ranked with the true greats of the game. He finally added success in the international arena, with a Euro 2016 win to add to his accolades and honours with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Though he could only carry his side to the round-of-16 in the FIFA World Cup 2018, he followed up his EURO 2016 success at yet another UEFA competition in the Nations League, winning the maiden edition of the competition with A Seleção.
Messi had been unfortunate to have never lifted a trophy with his nation, given that he made it to three major international finals in consecutive years between 2014 to 2016.
Till date, his only achievement with La Abiceleste remains the Olympic Gold medal in 2008. But when accolades with his nation in the decade are considered it was a disappointing stretch for him.
Also Read: Messi v Ronaldo in the decade that was 2010-2019
