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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice on Saturday to guide Inter Miami and Al-Nassr to victory in the Major League Soccer (MLS) and Saudi Pro League (SPL), respectively. Despite being in the twilight of their careers, Messi and Ronaldo have continued to remain prolific in front of goal. And ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, both of them are hoping to continue in this rich vein of form.
Messi and Ronaldo have been rivals ever since their rise to prominence in world football and have won the Ballon d'Or 13 times between them. The rivarly between the two was at its peak after Ronaldo joined Real Madrid back in 2009. With Ronaldo reinventing himself as a centre-forward following his move to LaLiga, he was in direct competition with Barcelona ace Messi for the golden boot until the Portuguese left for Juventus in 2018.
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So how many times did Ronaldo actually beat Messi in the race for the golden boot in LaLiga? The exact answer is three! It was during the 2010/11 (40 goals), 2013/14 (31) and 2014/15 (48) seasons that Ronaldo pipped Messi to win the Pichichi Trophy - LaLiga's top scorer award. Notably, Messi won the award eight times in his career, directly beating Ronaldo in 2009/10 (34), 2011/12 (50), 2012/13 (46), 2016/17 (37) and 2017/18 (34).
Over the course of his career, Messi has lost the golden boot award the most number of times to Cristiano Ronaldo. But there are five other players who have also managed to beat the Argentine in recent times. Kylian Mbappe won it twice ahead of Messi in Ligue1 back in 2021/22 (28) and 2022/23 (29). Just like Ronaldo, the likes of Diego Forlan (2008/09 - 32 goals) and Luis Suarez (2015/16 - 40 goals) beat Messi in LaLiga.
Meanwhile, even after his switch to MLS, Lionel Messi has yet to win the golden boot, losing out to Denis Bouanga (2022/23 - 20 goals) and Christian Benteke (2023/24 - 23 goals).
Can Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo win golden boot this season?
At the time of writing, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not leading the race for the golden boot in the MLS and SPL, respectively. Messi, who scored twice in the 3-2 win over D.C United, is joint-first with Bouanga on 22 goals.
Ronaldo took his tally for the ongoing league campaign to three goals after his brace in the 5-1 thrashing of Al-Riyadh. The Portugal captain is trailing teammate Joao Felix, who leads the race for the golden boot in the SPL, by two goals.
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will return to action on Wednesday, when they face New York City FC away from home. Cristiano Ronaldo-led Al-Nassr are set to lock horns with Jeddah Club in the King's Cup on Tuesday.
