Nothing but sympathy has been offered to Lionel Messi after Argentina’s shocking loss to Chile on penalties in the Copa America final.
This is the second major tournament final that Argentina has lost in the space of 12 months.
If Messi is seen as the best player in the world, the best in the world has to find success for both their club and their country.
Since Messi is most compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, who doesn’t have any international honours, let’s compare them to a previous two time Ballon D’or winner, Ronaldo, one of the best footballers of this current generation.
We will reward each player a point in which they defeat each other player in the category. Their credentials are summed up in first team appearances and goals.
They will be judged by their achievements for club and country, as well as individual honours.
Lionel Messi’s Barcelona career has been long and successful. This is why Messi takes all the points for the league, domestic and European titles.
This includes seven La Liga titles, three Copa Del Reys and four Uefa Champions League titles.
Ronaldo has won the least titles with multiple clubs like Cruzeiro, Inter and AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Corinthians and PSV. Although winning titles with almost every club, it’s not enough to beat those of Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won most of his club titles with Manchester United, which included three consecutive Premier League titles.
The next category is the amount of Ballon D’or awards won.
Messi has the record for Ballon D’or awards at four and is hotly tipped to win his fifth for the 2014-15 season after winning the treble with Barcelona.
Last year’s Ballon D’or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is only one behind Messi, but as he hits 30-years of age, his career may only go at this pace for another season or two.
Ronaldo won the Ballon D’or twice, in 1997 and in his second World Cup-winning year in 2002.
As mentioned earlier, a player is only the best if they succeed on club and country level. This next category has an outright winner, as we depict the winner of the international honours column.
Ronaldo obviously wins this category, after winning two World Cups and two Copa Americas with the ‘second’ invincible Brazil squad, with names like Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Kaka and Cafu.
Ronaldo played 92 matches for Brazil scoring 62 goals.
Messi holds a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and remains his only international achievement. Cristiano Ronaldo holds no honours with Portugal.
The final category is the player’s career goals to game ratio.
This is including all first team club and international matches and goals. Ronaldo played 441 career matches, scoring 309 goals, which is a ratio of 0.7g.
Cristiano Ronaldo comes in second surprisingly, with his astonishing goal scoring record at Real Madrid, scoring 25 goals more than his 200 appearances for the club.
He has played 541 career matches and has scored 367 goals, adding up to a ratio of .67.
Messi has played 450 games and has sored 343 goals in his career. This gives him a ratio of 0.76, doing more with the game time given.
Messi is the greatest player in the world for this generation and wins out over the other top two contenders.
Messi won an amazing five out of six categoriess and dominated the club achievements. Ronaldo won the international honours category, finishing with one point.
Obviously his career finished a few years ago, but he is the most likely player to compare to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Andriy Shevchenko could have been used, but Ronaldo has had more success and was Ballon d’Or winner more times than the Ukrainian.
Cristiano Ronaldo unfortunately lost in each category and finished with zero points compared to Messi and Ronaldo. Even with Ronaldo there, Messi would still defeat Ronaldo in every category.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s individual achievements have been boosted since his arrival at Madrid, like goal scoring and individual records. But his team achievements have for the most part stayed in Manchester.
Lionel Messi is three years younger than Cristiano Ronaldo. And is favourite to win the 2015 FIFA Ballon D’or.
Does this mean with an amazingly strong, dominant Barcelona, Messi could be on top for the rest of the decade?
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