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On May 6, 2018, the football world will gather to watch the most intense rivalry match in football history. Barcelona will host Real Madrid at the Nou Camp for their second El Clasico match of the season.
While the focus will be on the contest between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will also some gain attention. These two players have been the stand-out performers in the El Clasico for the past few years. They have scored goals, broken records and lead their respective clubs to victories in this great clash.
The duo have been dominant, and their fantastic records have sparked a lot of arguments among football fans about who's the best.
But the question is, who is truly the king of the El Clasico? We will compare their performances, records as well as the number of victories they have managed to achieve for their respective clubs.
Performances:
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have gained recognition for their consistent dominance over the years. While Messi has regularly impressed fans with his artistic brand of football, Ronaldo has been a deadly machine in front of goal. They have created an amazing duopoly on top of the football world, making it a very difficult task for anyone to separate them.
While it is tough to judge the performances of these superstars in other competitions, the same cannot be said of the El Clasico. Even an exceptional goalscoring machine like Ronaldo cannot match Messi's supremacy when it comes to this great fixture.
The Argentine's statistics in this intense rivalry are superior to those of his Portuguese counterpart. He has scored 25 goals in 37 appearances for Barcelona in the El Clasico, while the Real Madrid winger has only managed to score 17 times in 29 appearances. Messi has a better goal ratio, averaging 0.68 goal(s) per game, compared to Ronaldo's 0.59. He also converted 18.33% of his total 129 shots in this clash, while Ronaldo converted just 13.9% of his total 122 shots.
In addition to his amazing goalscoring exploits, the Argentine also wins the battle when it comes to setting up his teammates. The playmaker has assisted 14 goals and created 65 chances in this fixture, while his rival has just one assist and 15 chances to his name.
Victories
Great players are usually judged based on their ability to lead their respective teams to important victories. Both Messi and Ronaldo are influential figures in their respective clubs,.
When it comes to El Clasico victories, Messi has appeared on the winning side more often than Ronaldo, with 17 wins, 8 draws and 12 losses from 37 matches. The Portuguese, on the other hand, has won 8, drawn 7 and lost 14 of his 29 matches in this fixture. The Argentine also has a superior win percentage of 45.9%, compared to Ronaldo's 27.6%.
Records
Wherever greatness passes, it leaves traces behind. Messi and Ronaldo have justified their greatness in the El Clasico by leaving amazing records behind them. The duo have made some amazing records their own in the world's biggest game.
To start with, Ronaldo is the only player to have scored in 6 consecutive matches in this fixture. He is also the only player to have scored 11 goals at the Camp Nou as well as the most prolific European player in the clash, with 17 goals to his name.
However, despite his brilliance, Lionel Messi also wins the race for the most memorable records in the El Clasico. The Argentine is the all-time scorer, with 25 goals to his name. His 14 assists mean that he has set-up more goals than any other player in the history of the rivalry. In addition, Messi is the all-time scorer at the Santiago Bernabeu, having scored 15 goals at the stadium. He also has the most goals in both the La Liga (17) and the Spanish Super Cup (6).
Conclusion
It is true that both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been fantastic in the El Clasico. But when it comes to selecting the most influential player in this great fixture, the Argentine clearly has the edge.
Leo has more goals and assists than his Portuguese rival. He has also led his club to more victories in this fixture. At a tender age, the Argentine became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in an El Clasico match. He also went ahead to score another and broke the record for most hat-tricks in the clash.
At 31 years of age, Messi is currently the all-time scorer of the fixture with 25 goals to his name. He will aim to improve that tally when the two clubs reignite their rivalry on Sunday night. With these superior records, the Argentine is definitely the KING of the El Clasico at the moment!
