Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have ruled soccer for almost two decades now. These two have broken all sorts of records side by side. Who is the better player between these two, is still a very hot topic to have a healthy debate on. These two iconic forwards have scored all sorts of goals but it will be very interesting to dive into the topic of who has scored more goals without using either of their feet, at all.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have seen two very different phases in their career. The 35-year-old Argentine won the Qatar World Cup 2022 and won the Golden Ball award as the best player in the tournament. Whereas, the 37-year-old Portuguese has had a year to forget. Portugal got shockingly knocked out of the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Also, he had seen his contract terminated by Manchester United before joining Al-Nassr.
However, if we look at the bigger picture, their careers have been quite equal. Both of them were tipped for greatness since the start of their careers and boy did they deliver. They have dominated every individual soccer stat for almost 20 years without almost any competition. Ronaldo has 819 goals and Messi is on 793 goals. They both are at the twilight stages of their career, but they probably won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
How many goals did Lionel Messi score without touching the ball with his leg?
These two former Real Madrid and Barcelona superstars have scored goals for fun. Their goal stats suggest they have scored almost 50 goals every season in their unreal careers. They are quite different sorts of players in their style of play. The Portuguese started his career as a left winger but with time he turned into a deadly striker. The Argentine, however, has always been a silky smooth dribbler with the soccer ball and excels in playmaking.
Cristiano Ronaldo is considered a more versatile goalscorer between him and Messi. The Portuguese have scored an incredible 525 goals with his strong right foot and 151 with his weak left. Other than that Ronaldo is considered one of the best headers in the history of the game. He has scored 141 headed goals.
Lionel Messi, however, is very much a left-footer. He has scored 665 goals with his iconic left foot and 99 with his weak right. The significant difference comes in the goals scored without their legs. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a stunning 143 goals using his head and other body parts, whereas the Argentinean has scored only 29 times using his head or other body parts. It’s safe to say that Lionel Messi won’t be catching his rival in this stat.
The 12x combined Ballon d’Or winners don’t need any stat to prove their greatness for the beautiful game. These stats are only used for sake of stats only and for some fun conversations. We, soccer fans should always remain thankful to have witnessed a rivalry as great as this one, for such a long time and on such ridiculously high levels.