For years, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have fought a legendary battle to define who is the best.

But before seeing who did better, you can also check out Messi's 2022 World Cup campaign in our article below.

Both players are reaching the end of their careers, and in the final laps of this great race, one of the competitors gained a large advantage.

Messi has been doing better in recent seasons, but check out an overview of these two football geniuses who have shared the spotlight in the last decade.

We football fans have long debated who is the better of these two geniuses: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Both players have achieved tremendous success in their respective careers, but how do they compare side by side? 

In this article, we will analyze the abilities of both players to determine who is truly the better football player.

These two legends have shared the top of world football for the last few years, in FIFA Golden Balls alone, the two stars have won a total of 12 awards.

In other words, 12 years alternating the title of best football player, and the most incredible thing, they played in the same league, on rival teams.

The plot that formed around the athletes, if it were written, wouldn't be so good. The classic battle between effort and talent, natural ability, and all-out effort.

Most of these players' peaks happened when they were still playing in Spain, Cristiano for Real Madrid, and Messi for Barcelona.

Because of this, they always faced each other in legendary games, called El Classico. 

But never has a big advantage in titles and performance been as big as it is seen today.

Cristiano Ronaldo has always remained equal to Messi, sometimes even superior, but in the last moments of this confrontation that lasted more than 10 years, the Argentine emerged.

See below the numbers of the two, and why, currently, Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Football is much more than numbers, however, they help us to materialize criteria to analyze the two players.

Therefore, it is important to compare their achievements and records, to be able to get a slight idea of the achievements of these stars.

Messi and Ronaldo's individual records are difficult to compare, as each spent much of their career at different levels of competition. 

While Messi has consistently played in La Liga for Barcelona, ​​​​Ronaldo has played in the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga throughout his career so far.

However, one thing is certain: they are both prolific goalscorers. Messi scored an impressive 673 goals in 735 games for Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo 451 in 438 games for Real.

Cristiano Ronaldo's records

Lionel Messi records:

Since these players played in different leagues throughout their careers, we will just count the total number of titles, and comment on the main achievements.

In the overall picture, Messi is doing better, reaching the frightening number of 42 titles won this year.

While Cristiano Ronaldo is only 33, it's an absurd number too, but when compared to the Argentine, it leaves a big difference.

However, Cristiano Ronaldo comes out ahead of Messi when taking the UEFA Champions League into consideration, as he has five cups and Messi only four.

But in the planet's main competition, the World Cup, Messi showed the distance between the two players.

While Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to help his team get past the round of 16, and worse, he was still a substitute in the last few matches.

Messi had a spectacular competition and led his team to the title, winning the 2022 World Cup, and thus, completing his shelves with the main football titles.

Several factors always put Messi a little ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. 

However, with the victory of the World Cup, and the poor campaign of the Portuguese player, a gulf opened up between the two stars.

CR7 was no longer having a good season, he was playing as a reserve at Manchester United, just a few days away from the World Cup, he argued as a coach and was left without a team.

On the other hand, Messi was already having a great campaign for PSG in Ligue 1, and arrived in great shape for the World Cup.

Messi, with the World Cup in his hands, is now on another level of player, he placed himself alongside Maradona, and was even compared to Pelé.

While Cristiano Ronaldo decided to go and play in Saudi, where football is not so strong.

A close race for more than a decade, for one of the stars to emerge in the end.

This race is almost over, but there is still some time left in the rivalry, Cristiano needs a big move to get back on par with Messi.

But the robot has already redeemed himself in several other situations, will he do something again?