Though there are some great players that have gone down the antuques of history with people like Pele, Marradonna, Gorge Best, Luis Figo, Ronaldino, Kaka, Ronaldo Delima e.t.c. it is safe to say that these two are just out of the world and they certainly are a light years above their contemporaries.
Here is a comparison of the two players who have made the world of football stand on its feet for about a decade now.
Abilities & Ratings CR7 vs MS10
Goalscoring
Messi
It seems as if Lionel Messi breaks a goal scoring record every other week, such is his mind blowing knack for finding the back of the net. He became Barcelona's all time leading scorer at the age of 24, broke Gerd Muller's 39 year old record for the most goals scored in a single season (73), and is the all time leading scorer in La Liga.
He is simply one of the greatest goalscorers of all time and will no doubt set even more practically unbreakable records throughout his career.
Ratings:10/10
Ronaldo
Remarkably, Ronaldo matches Messi's ability to find the back of the net and can also be considered as one of the greatest goalscorers of all time.
In fact, Ronaldo finished ahead of his rival in the scoring charts for the third season running, notching over 50 goals in all competitions for the 6th time in his career! He also has a better goal scoring ratio in La Liga since arriving in 2009, with an astonishing 260 goals in just 236 league appearances for Real Madrid (1.10 ratio).
Ratings: 10/10
Heading
Messi
Heading is one of the few aspects of Messi's game that cannot be considered a world class attribute; not surprising considering his lack of height and Barcelona's style of play.
He is far from poor with his head though and chances are he will punish you if he's presented with a decent heading opportunity. Many will remember he famously headed his team into a 2 goal lead against Man Utd in the 2009 Champions League final.
Ratings: 6/10
Ronaldo
For someone with such elegant skills and technique on the ground, Ronaldo can leap and power his head through the ball like a tough, towering center back, with many of his countless goals coming via his head.
In 2015/16, Ronaldo headed home 9 of the 51 goals he scored in all competitions.
Ratings: 9/10
Dribbling
Messi
Messi is simply one of, if not the best dribbler of all time. His speed of thought together with his lightning quick feet enable his extraordinary ability to enter a crowd of players and come out the other side with the ball seemingly glued to his feet.
His small build and subsequent low center of gravity allow him to travel almost as fast with the ball as he does without it, and it is probably this quality above all others that make Lionel Messi so enjoyable to watch.
Ratings: 10/10
Ronaldo
Ronaldo is also an excellent dribbler, although this was more evident in years gone by when he would function as an out-and-out winger whose aim was to run at and terrorize defenders; a role which he absolutely excelled in.
More recently his game has adapted to more of a center forward role, who expertly finishes moves rather than starts them. That is not to say he is not still capable of running at defenders and leaving them for dead; he most certainly is.
Ronaldo's dribbling could perhaps be summarized as explosive, whereas Messi's could maybe be described as more intricate.
Ratings: 8/10
Passing
Messi
Messi's passing ability can be somewhat overlooked at times as people prefer to focus on his goals and dribbling; however, his vision and execution when searching for a team mate is up there with the very best who have played the game, past or present.
After moving deeper and wider last season, Messi enhanced the creative element of his game, allowing the sheer brilliance and precision of his passing to shine through. His assist numbers and through ball stats continue to surpass all others.
Messi created 74 chances in La Liga last season and recorded an impressive passing accuracy of 82%.
Ratings: 10/10
Ronaldo
It would be somewhat unfair to directly compare Ronaldo's passing ability to Messi's, as their team's style of play differs so much. Barcelona have been built on a philosophy of intricate passing football, whereas Real Madrid are all about fast-paced and explosive attacking football.
Ronaldo is still strong in this category however, creating 50 chances in La Liga last season and recording a passing accuracy of 79%.
It is the vision where Ronaldo perhaps falls short of his rival here.
Ratings: 8/10
Free Kicks
Messi
Messi's vision and creativity with a dead ball are what set him apart from most free kick specialists. His ability to identify a spot and a route to that spot that eludes all opposing players in his way is simply pure class.
He perhaps lacks the force that Ronaldo can get behind a dead ball, but it's the finesse that makes his free kicks special.
He had his best ever season in terms of free kicks in 2015/16, netting 9 for club and country in total, more than anyone else in the world!
Ratings: 9/10
Ronaldo
Ronaldo's combination of sheer power and ability to make a ball move in all manner of directions place him amongst the most feared dead ball specialists. Few can match the pure theater created as CR7 takes his trademark stance over a dead ball.
However, such is the power he attempts to pile into his free kick attempts, a large percentage often strike the wall, which has been an evident source of frustration for Ronaldo in recent seasons. Nevertheless, he did find the net 3 times from free kicks for club and country in 2015/2016.
Ratings: 8/10
Penalties
Messi
Messi's penalty record has suffered serious setbacks over the last couple of years. In the last 2 seasons for Barcelona, he has scored 10 and missed 7; although 1 of these "misses" was the clever assist he provided from the spot for Suarez to knock in.
Despite that, this record is very much below average for a player of Messi's ilk, and for a player who is considered the club penalty taker.
Messi also missed in a penalty shootout in heartbreaking circumstances for Argentina, as they lost the Copa America final to Chile for the 2nd year running.
Ratings: 6/10
Ronaldo
Ronaldo's penalty record took a pretty substantial hit last season, missing an unusually high number of 5 penalties for club and country.
Generally, his career penalty record is very solid, but these recent setbacks have seen him share a rare negative record with Lionel Messi for missing the most number of penalties in La Liga (8 each as of the end of 2015/16).
Ratings: 9/10
Physicality
Messi
At 5 foot 7 inches, Messi isn't the tallest of footballers and in his younger days, was in real danger of being overlooked (quite literally) due to his slight build and lack of physical prowess.
Luckily (for him and for us), his breathtaking, natural talent shone through. And his size can be quite deceptive! He is perfectly capable of holding his own against his larger opponents and can pack some serious power behind his shots.
Ratings; 7/10
Ronaldo
Physically, Ronaldo is as close to perfection as it gets for the modern day footballer. At 6 foot 2, he's got the height and with the help of his impeccable physique, he has the strength of an ox.
Where Messi has the edge with skill, technique and vision, Ronaldo makes up for with strength, speed and power.
Ratings: 10/10
Team Play
Messi
For someone with so much skill and so many solo goals to his name, Messi has a remarkable reputation as a team player and is very rarely accused of holding onto the ball longer than he should have done. His scoring record is obviously closely matched by Ronaldo, but it's the assists count that shows a clear gap in Messi's favour.
In the last couple of seasons, Messi's link up play with Neymar and Suarez has reached new heights as they all seem to settle on exactly the same wavelength. We also saw his unselfish side come into play as he would often pass up on a decent scoring opportunity to gift a team mate an easier chance, or hand them the chance to take a penalty.
Ratings: 9/10
Ronaldo
In contrast to Messi, Ronaldo has often been the subject of frustration for both fans and team-mates, often guilty of trying to do too much on his own when using a team mate might have been a better option. He has also been guilty of very evidently showing frustration when a team mate had scored instead of him.
Despite this issue, you cannot ignore the fact that Ronaldo's assist record is a very healthy one, although someway short of Messi.
Ratings: 7/10
Discipline
Messi
Unsurprisingly, due to his lightning quick feet and skill, Messi is hacked at and kicked countless times in almost every game, but where some players would go down, Messi usually does everything he can to stay on his feet and continue the attack.
He is of course no saint and can show petulance and frustration at times, but in general, this behavior is usually seen as the exception rather than the norm for Messi.
Messi came out of the 2015/16 season with 3 yellow cards to his name in La Liga.
Ratings: 9/10
Ronaldo
Ronaldo has often received criticism for this part of his game, being accused of going down too easily or feigning injury to the benefit of his team.
One might argue that it is his undeniable passion for the game and will to win that sometimes gets the better of him when decisions do not go his way.
Ronaldo finished the 2015/16 season with 3 yellow cards in La Liga; an improvement on recent seasons.
Ratings: 7/10
Conclusion
The final scores highlight just how close the battle is between these 2 players and just how lucky we are to have them both playing in one generation.
Messi dropped points mainly due to his physical limitations in areas such as heading, strength and power, but he topped his opponent on technique on the ball, his outstanding vision, as well as his effectiveness on the rest of the team.
It is these latter points that Messi fans would claim give him the edge over his rival, whose game is now very much centred around goal scoring.
Messi total ratings: 76/90
There is no doubting that since Ronaldo's move to Spain, the gap has grown ever smaller between these two superstars and now - certainly in terms of goals at least - there is a great case for claiming the 2 players are now on a par, or perhaps, that Ronaldo has even overtaken the Argentinian. Ronaldo has subsequently won 2 of the last 3 Ballon d'Or awards, and despite losing out last year, is favorite to regain the coveted prize this year after helping his country to Euro 2016 glory.
Whatever your stance, there is little doubt that these 2 players are light years ahead of anybody else playing the game today, and will surely go down as 2 of football's all time greatest ever players.
Ronaldo total ratings: 76/90
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