They have to be world’s best footballers ever, or is it because neither of them has won national honours like your World Cup or Euro and Copa America championships with their respective national teams that they cannot be classified in that bracket as of yet?
However, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is the best footballers the World has ever seen to date not only because of their goal-scoring exploits for their respective clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona but for their overall play and their ability to swing the tempo of the match at any minute.
They have both won the FIFA Ballon d’Or, however Messi seems to have make it his own after he won it for a record fourth time in succession recently, but Ronaldo has been with him neck-and-neck during that time although he would always finish second ever since he won it in 2008 while still on the books of Manchester United.
But the two magicians described as ‘indestructibles’ has taken World football by storm.
The past season saw Spain’s La Liga record books being rewritten once again after they both smashed the league’s goal-scoring record of 40 goals in a season when Messi scored 50 and Ronaldo 46 goals at the end of the 2011/12 campaign.
Messi however, stole the show when he broke Gerd Muller’s 40-year record of 85 goals in a calendar year when he notched up 91 while Ronaldo got 62 goals from January to December last year.
This year is no different or it could have the La Liga or World record books for that matter being rewritten once again as Messi sits on 44 goals in 33 matches and Ronaldo 33 in 33 matches at the time of writing.
At 25, the Argentine is already Barca’s all time top goal-scorer ahead of greats like Cesar, Johan Cryff, Hristo Stoichkov, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Patrick Kluivert who have donned the Catalans shirt.
Ronaldo is on course to become Real’s all-time leading marksman as he recently broke into the 300 goal mark for his club and is a few goals away to eclipse Raul’s 323 all-time record, so he too will be exceeding greats such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Santillana and Hugo Sanchez and Raul himself very soon.
Between them this season they have scored 77 goals in 66 matches at the time of writing, that’s averaging a goal every game and that entrenches them as the world’s indestructible footballers.
- Written by Edward May.
