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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have pushed each other to the limit over the last 15 years. Having won a combined 12 Ballon d’Or, their legacy has been etched in football history forever. They have carried their teams for over a decade and are still going strong in their mid-30s.
Goalscoring is no easy feat. It is arguably the most challenging job to do on a football pitch. However, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have made it look easy. They have consistently been competing against each other at the highest level.
Lionel Messi has outscored Cristiano Ronaldo eight times in the last 15 seasons
Messi and Ronaldo have scored a plethora of goals, even when they have not played as strikers (Messi pre-dominantly plays as a wing-forward). Over the last 15 seasons, Messi has outscored Ronaldo eight times. The Portuguese forward has scored more than Messi in six of those seasons. In 2010-11, both of them were tied at exactly 53 goals.
Let’s look at five seasons when Lionel Messi trumped Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of goals.
#5 2009-10
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo started scoring goals on a consistent basis during the late 2000s. This was Ronaldo’s first season at Real Madrid. Although he managed to record 33 goals in all competitions, Messi easily beat him with 47 strikes.
Both players have enjoyed more or less injury-free careers. However, the Manchester United star was injured for six weeks during the 2009-10 campaign. He only played 35 games that term and had a superior goal-to-game ratio than the Argentine.
Messi was the top scorer in both the UEFA Champions League and La Liga in 2009-10. “La Pulga” not only won the European Golden Shoe but also took home the Ballon d’Or that year. The former Barcelona talisman propelled his team to the La Liga title.
#4 2018-19
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continue to contribute to their teams despite being in the twilight of their careers. However, their goal output has visibly reduced. Since 2018-19, neither of them has crossed the 40-goal mark.
Messi scored 51 goals in the 2018-19 season, 23 more than Ronaldo’s 28. The latter had just joined Juventus, and his goal-to-game ratio took a massive hit compared to his last season at Real Madrid. Both Messi and Ronaldo won their respective league titles that season.
The Argentine magician had a sublime campaign that saw him topping the goalscoring charts in the Champions League and La Liga. Liverpool’s brilliant comeback at Anfield prevented Barcelona from lifting the Champions League trophy. However, even that couldn’t stop Messi from winning his sixth Ballon d’Or.
#3 2016-17
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo experienced an interesting 2016-17 campaign. The PSG forward was at the top of his game and ended up scoring 54 goals in 52 appearances. He won the Pichichi trophy and was also the overall top scorer in Europe with 36 goals.
However, Ronaldo bagged most of the honors. Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the La Liga title race by three points. Los Blancos, who enjoyed unprecedented success in the UCL during the mid-2010s, won the competition in 2016-17.
The Portuguese international was at the heart of everything as he won the Champions League top scorer award and the Ballon d’Or. This was his fifth and last Ballon d’Or. He scored 42 goals and couldn’t overtake Messi in that regard.
#2 2012-13
Lionel Messi was at his lethal best in 2012, when he scored 91 goals for club and country beating Gerd Muller's longstanding record of 85 goals in one calendar year. In the 2012-13 season, he netted 60 times in 50 appearances for Barcelona. Although Cristiano Ronaldo managed one goal per game in his 55 games that season, Messi outscored him.
The former Barcelona number 10 was in splendid form in 2012-13. He scored a goal every 68 minutes in all competitions. Moreover, he won the European Golden Shoe. Messi failed to win the 2013 Ballon d’Or despite these top-class individual performances.
Barcelona were humiliated 7-0 on aggregate by Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final clash. The Bavarians went on to win the UCL, with Franck Ribery being their standout player. Although Ronaldo didn’t win a single trophy that term, he bagged the Ballon d’Or for his individual record.
#1 2011-12
Lionel Messi’s most prolific season was in 2011-12. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner scored 73 goals in just 60 matches for Barcelona in all competitions. Fifty of those goals came in La Liga, the highest tally of goals scored in a single La Liga campaign.
The 34-year-old also registered 29 assists, which meant he contributed to a goal every 51 minutes. Although the Argentine played like a man possessed, he could not stop the Real Madrid juggernaut. The Galacticos won the La Liga title by racking up 100 points.
Ronaldo, who had 46 strikes to his name in La Liga, was brilliantly supported by Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain, with both scoring 20+ goals. Messi scored 73 goals in total, 13 more than the Portuguese. This saw him win the Ballon d’Or, European Golden Shoe, Pichichi and Champions League top scorer accolades.
