Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi: Career trophies, goals, stats and awards for football superstars

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are widely seen as two of the greatest to play the game. The pair, and their rivalry, have defined a generation of football. Everyone has their opinion on who is the superior player, fed by the rivalry growing over the better part of a decade.

This is only possible because the duo spent much of their careers at Barcelona and Real Madrid, their own rivalry subsumed by the heated rivalry between the two clubs, and their fan bases. At times the clubs seemed to be competing with each other on almost a weekly basis. Between April 2010 and April 2012, the clubs faced each other a dozen times.

On top of that, the duo also faced off in an international friendly in that time. It's easy to see how their rivalry grew to define a generation of football.

Below, we've listed all the stats and all the numbers on their careers to date, their achievements, and how they've fared against each other.

Complete 2022 FIFA World Cup schedule

We've compared the record between these two greats across their club and international careers.

Stats updated as of September 27, 2023.

It's worth remembering that they represent international teams in different federations. Argentina qualify directly for the Copa America, so they don't take part in qualifiers like Portugal do for the European Championships.

Stats updated as of September 27, 2023.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have both lifted a host of trophies, having played at successful teams. They've also both earned numerous individual honors, with both of them regularly competing with each other to be recognized as the best player in the world in a given season.

The nature of the trophies they've won belies the nature of the teams on which they've played.