"That’s the difference" - When ex-Liverpool director of research explained why Lionel Messi was better than Cristiano Ronaldo

Liverpool's former director of research Dr. Ian Graham once explained why Lionel Messi was better than his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo. The two superstars of modern football dominated football for almost two decades and etched their names as two of the greatest players of all time.

The GOAT debate between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been one of the most discussed things in football in recent years. The debate has divided not only the fans but also footballers, former footballers and pundits.

Dr. Ian Graham, who served as Liverpool's director of research, also had his say on the debate based on data and analytics. In June 2023, he opined that Messi was a superior player to Ronaldo based on what he offers to his team. Graham told an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival, as quoted by The Guardian:

"It’s Messi. The difference is that Messi is also a world-class attacking midfielder."

Graham added:

“The chances he creates for his teammates are an order of magnitude greater than Ronaldo. Messi does two jobs brilliantly. Ronaldo does one job brilliantly. That’s the difference.”

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shattered record after record throughout their careers and are the only two footballers to score more than 800 career goals. Messi has 866 goals and 384 assists in 1107 appearances for club and country, whereas Ronaldo has 938 goals and 257 assists in 1281 games.

Messi is the most decorated footballer of all time with 46 trophies to his name whereas Ronaldo has won 36 trophies across his career. Messi has won the Ballon d'Or a record eight times, whereas Ronaldo has won it five times, which is the second highest.

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Nani picks between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the GOAT debate

Former Manchester United and Portugal winger Nani has picked Cristiano Ronaldo over Lionel Messi in the GOAT debate. He also insisted that people often forget about Ronaldo's younger days while comparing the two superstars. Nani said on the ObiOnePodcast on YouTube:

"I will tell you something, there is a big big difference. When people talk about Ronaldo and Messi, They're looking in the last five years. When you want to talk about Messi and Ronaldo, you need to talk about when they were young. The skills, the way they were doing things with the ball and the speed and scoring goals with the left, with the right, with the head. So, they way they were passing, nobody was stopping them."

The former Manchester United winger added:

"If you start thinking about Ronaldo now, yeah nobody likes to see his game because they say ah he just touch and then he score goals. But it's not true, he's 40 now, you need to see when he was young. I saw things, in training, left, right, dribbling. It's incredible, every single touch on the ball was perfect, no mistakes, perfect, for me, he's the best and I respect Messi because Messi is a talent out of this world as well. They are both great. We are lucky to be in the same generation and compete with them."

Nani shared the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo for Manchester United and Portugal for a long time. He played alongside the former Real Madrid attacker on 130 occasions for club and country and had 14 joint goal participations.

He also fared against Ronaldo three times and won once while losing twice. Meanwhile, he played five times against Lionel Messi for club and country and won twice while losing thrice.