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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are living out the sporting rivalry of a lifetime. The two players have consistently divided the opinions of fans and critics since first making their presence felt in the stage of world football.
Their battle for supremacy has attained legendary status so far and in the last decade, no player has come close to matching the footballing qualities of the Argentinean as well as the Portuguese. In their quest for excellence, the two of them have left behind a trail of records that continue to separate them from the rest of the league.
The Argentine and the Portuguese have the record-books full of their names, but despite their inherent competition, there is a mutual respect that they share for each other. Also, there are quite a few records that belong to the two of them and today, we take a look at 4 outstanding records that Ronaldo shares with Messi.
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Also Read: 3 Manchester United records Cristiano Ronaldo holds till date
#4 Most La Liga hat-tricks in a season
Messi set the record for the most hat-tricks in a La Liga season in his awe-inspiring 2011/12 season, where the Argentinean scored 50 goals from 37 games in the league. The Barcelona No. 10 scored his first hat-trick of the league against Osasuna in September. He was on fire again a week later, scoring his second hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of Atletico Madrid.
He had scored 2 more hat-tricks against Mallorca and Malaga before the end of the year. Messi scored 4 more hat-tricks in the second half of the season, against Valencia, Granada, Malaga, and Espanyol, finishing the season with 8 hat-tricks, the first time a footballer had managed that in the top division in Spain. However, he would soon be joined by his rival at the podium.
The Portuguese managed to touch Messi’s record in the 2014/15 season, scoring 8 hat-tricks for Real Madrid in the La Liga. Ronaldo started the season with 3 goal hauls against Deportivo La Coruna and Elche in September. The Portuguese scored his 3rd and 4th hat-trick of the season against Atletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo in October and December of the year respectively.
However, it took him until April to score his 5th hat-trick of the season, this time against Granada. Ronaldo ended the season with a bang, scoring 3 hat-tricks in May, against Sevilla, Espanyol, and Getafe, in the process equaling Messi’s record.
#3 Most appearances in the FIFPro World XI
The International Federation of Professional Footballers or FIFPro has been forming a team of the year ever since 2005, based on votes from professional footballers around the world. The team is named FIFPro World XI and comprises of the best players of the world, which includes one goalkeeper, a back four, a 3 man midfield and 3 attackers. Since its inception, 2 players have been in the team a record-setting 13 times – Messi and Ronaldo.
The Argentine and the Portuguese both made their first appearance in the FIFPro World Xi in 2007, however, while Messi was selected as a forward, Ronaldo was voted in as a midfielder. The following year, they were named in the front three for the first time and have never been left out since.
Ronaldo has represented Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus at the award; he and Dani Alves are the only 2 players to have represented 3 clubs. All of Messi’s appearances have been for Barcelona.
A front line containing these two stalwarts can still strike fear into the hearts of every defense in the world, 13 years on since their first appearance in the FIFPro World XI. Messi and Ronaldo share the outstanding record of most appearances in the FIFPro World XI and the consistency in their game is a striking feature that sets them both apart.
#2 Most hat-tricks in UEFA Champions League
Because goalscoring is their forte, it is not a wonder that Messi and Ronaldo share another hat-trick record, this time in the UEFA Champions League. The Argentinean and the Portuguese have 8 hat-tricks in the UEFA Champions League at the moment and their journey to excellence has been worth drooling over. The only active players who come close to the dynamic duo are Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gomez and Luiz Adriano and all of them have 3 hat-tricks to their name!
Messi scored his first UEFA Champions League hat-trick in April 2010 against Arsenal and since then, he has scored hat-tricks against Viktoria Plzen, Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax, APOEL, Celtic, Manchester City, and PSV Eindhoven.
Ronaldo scored his first UEFA Champions League hat-trick as a Real Madrid player against Ajax in 2012. He went on to score hat-tricks against Galatasaray, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo FF, Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, against whom he has 2 hat-tricks.
The Argentinean’s most recent hat-trick was against PSV Eindhoven in the 2018/19 season, while the Portuguese scored his last hat-trick against Atletico Madrid last season, which was also his first UEFA Champions League hat-trick as a Juventus player.
Incidentally, Ronaldo is the only player to have 3 hat-tricks in a single season, which he managed in the 2015/16 season for Real Madrid. On the other hand, Messi has managed 2 hat-tricks in a single season twice, in the 2011/12 season and the 16/17 season.
#1 Most appearances in the top 3 candidates for the Ballon d'Or
While the Ballon d’Or has been won by some fantastic football talents since the inception of the award in 1956, Messi and Ronaldo managed to take the award to greater heights due to their duopoly on the “greatest of all times” debate.
Their competitive nature and desire to outdo each other on the grand stage has made for a memorable decade for all football fans. The fact that they continue to be in the thick of things even after 13 years since their first appearance in the Ballon d’Or podium only highlights their extraordinary capabilities on the football pitch.
The two of them first appeared in the top 3 of the Ballon d’Or in 2007, when Messi finished third and Ronaldo came second behind Kaka. That kick-started an unmatched reign in the final three of the awards, that has lasted more than a decade!
The Argentinean and the Portuguese have appeared in the top 3 candidates for the Ballon d’Or 12 times, the most by any footballers in the history of the awards. Both have finished third once, but while Ronaldo has finished second on 6 occasions, Messi has done so on 5 occasions. However, the Argentinean beats his Portuguese rival when it comes to the big prize, winning the Ballon d’Or 6 times compared to Ronaldo’s 5.
Since 2007, the Portuguese has missed out on a top 3 finish only in 2010, while Messi’ only absence in the top 3 was in 2018, where he was criminally overlooked as Luka Modric won the Ballon d’Or.
Also Read: 3 World Cup records Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will never break
