Lionel Messi Versus Cristiano Ronaldo Argumentative Essay Sample

In the current football association, there are two names that mostly come up for the critics and the fans. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two great players which are commonly compared since both of them have the statistics, skills and achievements. They are both considered as all-time greatest players in the sport of football by most of the sport critics. Their rivalry is considered one of the best since both of the players have a combine 7 FIFA Ballon d’Or awards which is the annual award for the best player given by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). Ronaldo and Messi also scored higher than 50 goals in a single season in the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League. In that football league, the regular goal barrier is 50 and there are only few players who passed the limit. Both of the players also have a total of more than 400 goals in their respective club or country (Hughes n.p.). In general, Ronaldo and Messi are comparable and could be considered as the best player in the modern football.
Cristiano Ronaldo was an international player from Portugal. He was born in 1985 and began his professional career in football in 2002. He first played in the Manchester United and helped them win three Primier League titles in 2006 to 2009. He became the world’s most expensive player when moved to Real Madrid in 2009 (Caley n.p.). One the other hand, Leonel Messi is an international player from Argentina. He was born in 1987 and he was discovered by the Spanish Team Barcelona at the age of 13. He is the all-time leading scorer in LA Liga and helped his country to reach the World Cup Finals in 2014 which is the first time in 24 years (Hughes n.p.).
According to their interview, they both agreed that they continue to be great players since their competition or rivalry is very high. However, there are many reasons to consider why Lionel Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo. There are three main topics to consider which could be the best player in the modern football which are achievements, statistics and team play. Messi has more achievements than Ronaldo in the current League they are playing on and in the international football league or FIFA World Championship. Messi also shows more skills in the statistics of their games, Lastly, Messi is considered more of a team player than Ronaldo. In general, Lionel Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo and could be considered as the best player in history of European Football (Caley n.p.).
The FIFA Ballon d'Or awarded annually is one of the most prestigious awards in the sport of football. It was established in 1956 to commemorate the best player in the world in the sport of football (Shergold n.p.). The winning player is determined by the votes of the national coaches and the accredited journalist by the FIFA. Winning the award more than once is a lifetime achievement since only a few players could achieved it. One of these players is Cristiano Ronaldo who won it three times. Ronaldo won the Best Player Award or the Ballon d'Or in 2008, 2013 and 2014. However, Messi’s achievement is better than Ronaldo since Messi won the award 4 times. Messi was awarded Best Player Award or the Ballon d'Or for consecutive years in 2009-2012 (rice n.p.).
In comparing their achievements, it is best to consider the records in the most prestigious Football Leagues. Ronaldo and Messi has remarkable records in the UEFA Champions League and the La Liga (Shergold n.p.). Lionel Messi, the man with golden feet has been at FC Barcelona for 15 years and counting. In his 10 years with the first team he has won 6 league titles, 2 Copa Del Rey, 5 Spanish super cups, 3 Champions Leagues, 2 European super cups, and 2 club world cups. Messi is the All-time top scorer in the Champions League with 75 goals only followed by Ronaldo with 72 goals. Messi is also the All-time leading scorer in the La Liga with 259 goals compared to the 209 goals of Ronaldo. In comparing their achievements, their records in the El Clasico or the greatest rivalry of Barcelona and Madrid should also be considered. Messi is also the top scorer in the El Clasico with 21 goals while Ronaldo has only 14 goals (rice n.p.).
In the case of statistics, both of the great players are also comparable. One of the most incredible record for Messi to beat Ronaldo for the best player is the most goals in the year. Messi hold the record for most goals in the year which has 91 goals in which is passed the record of Gerd Muller with 85 goals in 1975. Messi is also the first player to score consecutively against all teams in the league with 33 goals against 21 teams. He is also the player with the most goals in a single club in the European League La Liga. Messi is the top scorer in El classic which is the biggest rivalry in world football between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid (Shergold n.p.). He is also the top scorer of the UEFA Champions League 4 consecutive years. Messi also made history to be the first player to score 5 goals in a single Champions League match and also hold the record for most goals in a La Liga season with 50 goals. These are the records that should be passed by Ronaldo before beating Messi as the better player. These are also the records that could consider Messi as the best player in the history of football (Marcotti, n.p.).
Aside from the achievements and statistics, the team play of the players should also be considered in their comparison as the best footballer. One of the reasons is that the sport of football is a team sport. Records could be won by a player but the games could only be won a team. One of the great things about Messi is that he is a good team player. He has a good team chemistry with his teammates especially with Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. On the other hand, Ronaldo is known for shooting goals with not good angles while his teammates should have a good position. Ronaldo is also known to have a tendency to show frustrations against his teammates. Team play is one thing that Messi is better than Ronaldo. It could be shown by the 6 titles that Messi and the FC Barcelona won in 2009 which is a record that is very difficult to be broken and considered one of the greatest achievements of all time (Hughes n.p.).
Ronaldo and Messi could be considered as one of the greatest players in the modern football history. Both of them achieved tremendous awards and records that could only be surpassed by gifted players. Their rivalry is also considered one of the all-time great which is compared to the other major rivalries such as Ali and Frazer. However, when considering the achievements, statistics and team play, Messi could be considered as a better footballer than Ronaldo. With Messi’s records and achievements, he could also be considered as the best player in the history of Football.

Works Cited:

Caley, Michael. Despite great season, Cristiano Ronaldo is not better than Lionel Messi. The Washington Post. 2014. Web. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2014/11/07/despite-great-season-cristiano-ronaldo-is-not-better-than-lionel-messi/.
Hughes, Rob. Messi and Ronaldo: 2 Stars in Their Own Universe. The New York Times. 2012. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/sports/soccer/09iht-soccer09.html?_r=0.
Marcotti, Gabriele. The Phenomenon of Messi and Ronaldo. The Wall Street Journal. 2012. Web. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304724404577289380688703556.
Rice, Simon. Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo - world's greatest players locked in new battle. The Independent. 2013. Web. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/lionel-messi-v-cristiano-ronaldo--worlds-greatest-players-locked-in-new-battle-8567328.html.
Shergold, Adam. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: The world's two greatest players goal-by-goal and record-by-record in 2014. Mail Online. 2014. Web. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2883732/Cristiano-Ronaldo-vs-Lionel-Messi-world-s-two-greatest-players-goal-goal-record-record-2014.html.