Stat Comparison: Messi vs Ronaldo for 2012/13 La Liga Campaign

As long as both remain in the La Liga, it’s difficult to see any players attracting more attention than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have for the last four seasons.

Last season, the duo contributed 80 goals to the Spanish top flight, almost close to 10% of the league’s entire tally (1091). It is remarkable, to say the least, that such an enormous task is shared between just two players.

So, it is natural that the comparison between the two will attract a lot of attention from fans. Here’s a breakup of the how the world’s best two players fared this term.

Both players are important cogs in their respective club’s fortunes. Therefore, it is not surprising that the most significant area in which both players make their biggest contributions is the goals scored.

If going by numbers alone, Messi’s 46 goals in 32 appearances win over Ronaldo’s 34 goals in 34 games hands down.

However, one must also consider the fact that Barcelona has made Messi their focus of the attack and thus enjoys a significant advantage over Ronaldo, as the attacking options at the Santiago Bernabeu means a far more spread out responsibility of scoring goals on other forwards.

Interestingly, it’s the manner in which Ronaldo has scored his goals that will make you believe the Portuguese is the more rounded of the two. Of his 34 goals, the 28-year-old has netted 18 with his preferred right foot, 10 with his left and six headed efforts.

Messi, on the other hand, seems more one-sided as his breakdown of 40 goals are from his left foot, six with his right and no headed goals, which speaks volumes about his reliance on his left foot. But having said that, it does not matter how the goals are scored as long as they are.

Aside from their own goal scoring ability, both players are effective when it comes to laying on scoring opportunities for those around them. Playing with the likes of Benzema, Di Maria and Higuain, Ronaldo finished the season as Real’s second-best creator as he created 60 goal scoring chances in this campaign while Messi also finished second in the Barcelona side, with 45.

Interestingly enough, it was Messi’s chances that proved more efficient, with 12 of those chances converted into goals, which turns into 26% success rate.

On the other hand, though Ronaldo may have created more chances, his playmaking skills perhaps are not as potent as Messi’s as only 10 of those 60 chances were converted into a goal and, as a result, translates into a much lower ratio of 16%.

With just one yellow card to his name this season, Messi strengthens his image of a nice guy, and was joint-lowest in terms of cautions in the Barcelona squad. On the other end, Ronaldo is tied with his caution happy team-mate Sergio Ramos as Real Madrid’s most aggressive player this campaign, after racking up picking up nine yellow cards.

With a sixth La Liga title and a Pichichi trophy to his name, it is Lionel Messi who wins this round this season. La Liga fans will be praying they get to see many more such clashes in the future.