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Lionel Messi is the best player in the world. The Argentine can do things that are not humanly possible for the other superstars in the world of football. And yet, there seems to be something lacking in him – and it became evident when Liverpool thrashed Barcelona 4-0 at the Anfield to overturn a 3-0 deficit from the Camp Nou.
They say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. But in the case of Messi, this doesn’t happen as for the second year in a row, Barcelona allowed a team to come back from a 3-goal deficit and knock them out of the Champions League.
Messi might be the best in the world, but he is no leader – a fact that becomes even more evident when one looks at Argentina’s failures in important matches.
Even with his flaws, however, no-one comes close to him – except one man: and we all know who that is.
#5 Less naturally gifted
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the only thorn in Lionel Messi’s path for complete domination. Even though the Portuguese is evidently not as naturally gifted as the Argentine, he has arguably achieved more in his career (Ronaldo has everything at club level that Messi does PLUS a trophy with his country – something that Messi can’t boast).
It is not that Ronaldo is talentless. Quite the contrary, he is also very talented, but in terms of pure genius, Messi will always prevail over the Portuguese. And yet, Ronaldo has been toe-to-toe with Messi and is even better than the Argentine in the Champions League.
Indeed, the former Manchester United man is the real Mr Champions League and here are four more reasons as to why that is the case…
#4 Stats don’t lie
There is a very popular quote in the world of football that goes something like: ‘Stats are like mini-skirts; they reveal a lot but hide the most important parts.’
While the general gist of the saying is true, especially in the case of midfielders, stats do say a lot about forwards. Let’s have a stat comparison between the two in the Champions League.
Messi has scored 112 goals in the Champions League while Ronaldo has 126 to his name in Europe’s premier competition. But it gets even better as we start to break it.
Ronaldo has 65 goals in the Champions League knockout stages, of which 42 are from the quarter-finals to the final itself – that is just 4 goals less than what Lionel Messi has in knock-out stages overall (46 goals).
Ronaldo has 13 goals in the semis while Messi has just 6. In the finals, the Portuguese has 4 goals, which is double of what Messi has.
Finally, Ronaldo has won 5 Champions League titles with two teams while Messi has 4 with Barcelona.
#3 Better big game player
The slide before this basically works as a testament to this one. Ronaldo has more goals in the knock-out stages overall, more goals in the quarters, semis and the finals.
In fact, his performances in the top games is what allowed Real Madrid to win three Champions League titles in a row. He scored a brace against Juventus in the final of 2017 Champions League and then another double against the same team in the first-leg of the quarter final of last season’s Champions League in Turin – a performance for which he got a standing ovation from Juventus fans.
In the return leg, he scored a 97th minute goal to stop Juventus from overturning the tie and taking Madrid to the semis in the process.
Even this season, which was a disappointment for Juve in Europe, he scored all of the Old Lady’s knock-out goals with none of his team-mates sharing the burden (one of which includes a hattrick against Atletico Madrid to overturn a 2-0 deficit).
While Messi, too, has put out great performances in big games in the past, in the last two seasons, he hasn’t been able to do it when it really mattered (Messi could have buried the game when he was clean through on goal and all he needed to do was shoot with his right foot but he opted to take it on his left, giving Virgil the time to dispossess him).
#2 Less protected
Look at how the world reacts to when Messi does something phenomenal and compare it with it to when the Portuguese does the same. There is no doubt that the former Manchester United star does get praised, but the amount of scrutiny he faces is also immense.
When Messi scored a brace against Liverpool in the first leg of the semi-final, he was lauded as the best in the world by Mario Balotelli – all fine and good. However, the Italian also ensured to make a dig against the Portuguese in the process, stating that the Argentina captain should never be compared to the Juventus star.
Such is the animosity towards Ronaldo. Indeed, it becomes very apparent when he goes to rival grounds as he is booed continuously. Be it the press or the crowd, Ronaldo is less protected than Messi, which makes his feats all the more incredible.
#1 Champions League leader
Barcelona lack leaders. Messi is no leader. It is as simple as that. And that is okay – it is not right to expect EVERYTHING from one player. What else do you want Messi to do? Fly with his hands or walk on water?
The Argentine already does superficial things on the pitch, but sometimes it is not enough due to the lack of leaders on the pitch. Barcelona, for two years in a row, let a team get the better of them in a return leg despite having a 3-goal cushion.
Can you imagine Barcelona giving away such a lead if Puyol or even Xavi was on the pitch?
This is where Cristiano Ronaldo is so superior. He is a leader and galvanizes his troops when the chips are down. Case in point, Juventus were leading 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu last season after losing the first-leg 3-0 in Turin.
Real Madrid, like Barcelona, wasted the 3-goal cushion. However, unlike Barcelona, Real Madrid made it to the next round because Ronaldo scored at the very last moment of the game.
Even in the losing cause against Ajax this season, Ronaldo had a goal in the game in which Juventus got eliminated.
Because that is what leaders do.
And Ronaldo is a leader. A Champions League leader.
He is Mr. Champions League.
