5 reasons why Lionel Messi could outshine Cristiano Ronaldo in the UEFA Champions League this season

#2 Age catching up with the Portuguese

The Portuguese started the campaign slowly

There is no doubt Cristiano Ronaldo is an exceptional player who has conquered the football world times without number. But at 33, age is already catching up with the attacker and signs of a gradual decline are becoming quite evident.

The Portuguese had a slow start to the season and he needed a whopping 320 minutes before scoring his first goal for Juventus, following his famous switch from Real Madrid this summer - capitalising on a defensive error against Sassuolo to open his account for the campaign before adding a second later in the match.

Whereas Lionel Messi is going from strength to strength at Barcelona, scoring an impressive brace in his LaLiga opener as well as opening his UEFA Champions League account with an incredible hat-trick. So far, the Argentine has bagged an amazing 7 goals and 2 assists for the Catalans in all competitions this term - quite superior to Ronaldo's 2 goals and 1 assist for Juventus.

All stats via transfermarkt