Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: The race to 100 goals in UEFA competitions

There is very little doubt that the two best players on the planet are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They’ve been duking it out at the very highest level of the game for nigh on a decade now and no place has seen this titanic duel quite like the Champions League.

If some people have the argument that in La Liga their opponents lie down and let them walk all over them (patently untrue – Messi and Ronaldo simply bully them over. Nobody ‘lets’ them do it. They just do it.), that argument holds no water when it comes to what is arguably the toughest football competition on planet Earth – the Champions League.

Currently, the latest race between the two is to see who can get to the awe-inspiring milestone of 100 European goals first.

No one else has racked anything like the numbers that these two have – hell, the closest anyone has come to them is Raul, and that goal-machine is well behind them – 20 goals behind them!!

Here’s how the numbers look – all goalscorers who have scored more than a half-century of goals in all of UEFA’s elite competition (i.e. Champions League plus other UEFA competitions);

#	Name	Goals
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	98
2	Lionel Messi	97
3	Raul Gonzalez	77
4	Filippo Inzaghi	70
5	Andriy Shevchenko	67
6	Gerd Muller	62
7	Ruud van Nistelrooy	62
8	Henrik Larsson	59
9	Thierry Henry	59
10	Eusebio	56
11	Alessandro del Piero	54
12	Karim Benzema	51
13	Alfredo Di Stefano	50
14	Didier Drogba	50

To drive home the point of just how far ahead Ronaldo and Messi are – the closest active competitor they have is Karim Benzema... the Frenchman is a staggering FORTY-FIVE goals away from Messi.

When the season started, Messi was a good 8 goals, behind but a lackluster Champions League season for Ronaldo has seen the Barcelona wizard draw closer.

In terms of history, the Portuguese superstar holds the record for most goals in a single campaign – 17 in 2013/14 (the season of La Decima) and has managed another record: scoring 10 or more in the last five editions of the tournament. Messi, meanwhile, has been on fire this season – scoring 11 already this season. His highest ever record is 15, which he did in 2011/12.

Here’s further stats on all the goals they’ve scored:

Cristiano Ronaldo

- 46 goals in the first half

- 52 goals in the first half

- His best 15 minute period is between the 16^th and 30^th minute... where he’s scored 23 goals.

- His favourite minute of scoring: 90th - he's scored 7

Lionel Messi

- 49 goals in the first half

- 48 goals in the second half

- His best 15 minute period is between the 76^th and 90^th minute... where he’s scored 22 goals.

- His favourite minute of scoring: 90^th and 38^th - he's scored 4 goals

With the quarterfinals of the Champions league kicking off tomorrow, this promises to be a fascinating subplot to what is sure to be some of the best football action you’ll see this season.