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In a 2019 interview, Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs gave his two cents on the Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi debate, hailing the Argentine as a “once in a lifetime” footballer.
Over the last 15 years, the duo have dominated the sport and its individual awards in an unprecedented manner. While Messi has won a whopping seven Ballons d’Or in his career, Ronaldo has won five.
While the Argentina international has five European Golden Boots to his name, the Portuguese maverick has four. Ronaldo has won 'The Best FIFA Men’s Player' award a couple of times, while Messi has won the individual accolade once.
Picking between the two superstars is a controversial task, one that is regularly pitched to football’s most famous personalities. In 2019, then-Wales coach Giggs was asked to take his pick between his former Manchester United teammate Ronaldo and Barcelona legend Messi.
Here’s what he told DAZN (via Goal):
“Obviously I lean towards Ronaldo a little bit because I played with him and saw him develop as a player. But Messi is a genius, he's a once in a lifetime player. It's as simple as that.”
Having scored a whopping 815 goals for his clubs and Portugal, 37-year-old Ronaldo is the leading goalscorer in the history of men’s football. Messi, 34, follows him closely with 767 goals for his clubs and Argentina.
Lionel Messi has been more prolific than Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022
Both superstars switched clubs last summer. While the Portugal international re-joined Manchester United from Juventus, the Argentine No. 10 moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Barca.
Ronaldo comfortably outperformed Messi in the first half of the 2021-22 season (in 2021), but the PSG man pulled ahead in 2022.
Since the turn of the year, Messi has taken part in 22 matches for Argentina and PSG, recording 23 goal contributions (11 goals and 12 assists).
Ronaldo, on the other hand, has appeared in 23 games for Manchester United and Portugal, but has only managed 14 goal involvements (12 goals and two assists).
