When Argentina played Australia in the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup, it was Lionel Messi 1,000th time on the field, not counting friendlies, for either his club or his country, know his stats vs Ronaldo of all time in the same amount of games
Messi has played in a whopping 778 games for Barcelona, 169 games for Argentina, and 53 games for Paris Saint-Germain. This brings his total number of games to a magical 1,000.
And the 35-year-old wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. He scored for the first time in a World Cup knockout game as Argentina beat Australia 2-1 to move on to the quarterfinals.
Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo Stats, Goals And Assists Of All Time Comparision After 1,000 Games
Now, every big moment in Messi’s career brings up comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo, and that won’t change. Ronaldo is two years older than Messi, so when it comes to celebrating 1,000 matches in the big leagues, he has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.
The difference in age between Ronaldo and Messi is an interesting problem because it means you have to do some math tricks to make the comparisons fair. Still, when it was confirmed that Messi had played in 1,000 games, it was the perfect time to check in on this part of the comparisons between him and Ronaldo.
Lionel Messi Vs Ronaldo: Who Had Better Stats After 1,000 Games?
Who wins? Well, we’ll let you decide, but we can give you some numbers to help you decide. Here are some of the most important stats about Messi and Ronaldo when they both played 1,000 games:
- Goals: Messi 789-725 Ronaldo
- Assists: Messi 348-216 Ronaldo
- Hat-tricks: Messi 56-56 Ronaldo
- Non-penalty goals: Messi 684-602 Ronaldo
- Trophies: Messi 38-29 Ronaldo
- Ballon d’Or titles: Messi 7-5 Ronaldo
- European Golden Shoes: Messi 6-4 Ronaldo
- International goals: Ronaldo 99-94 Messi
Who Is Better? Lionel Messi Vs Ronaldo?
Messi, who just reached the same milestone, has more goals, assists, non-penalty goals, trophies, Ballon d’Or titles, and European Golden Shoes than Ronaldo did after 1,000 games. Messi is also tied with Ronaldo in terms of hat-tricks, and even though everyone agrees that Ronaldo is the best male player in international football, the Portuguese only has a five-goal lead at the 1,000-game mark.
Now, the caveat to all of this is that Messi still needs to keep his foot on the gas and work hard to play at the top level into the second half of his thirties, just like Ronaldo has. Even though Messi has played 143 fewer games than Ronaldo, he still has more non-penalty goals (684 vs. 673) than Ronaldo. This is true even though Ronaldo has been playing for longer and has played more games.
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