5 Reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi 

#2 Stepping up when it matters most

Ronaldo helped Real Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles

Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are bonafide game-changers who have the innate ability to almost single-handedly decide the outcome of matches on their own.

Their respective teams have been beneficiaries of this unique trait over the years, with seemingly insurmountable obstacles scaled by virtue of the otherworldly performances of their star men.

This is particularly true for Ronaldo, with Real Madrid's recent domination of the Champions League directly traceable to the Portuguese icon's displays on the continent.

With 127 goals, Ronaldo is the record goalscorer in the Champions League and a majority of his goals have come in the crunch stages of the tournament.

Messi leads the way with 67 group stage goals compared to Ronaldo's 62, but that is where the comparison ends, as the Madeira native has turned into a man for the knockout rounds in the last few years.

The former Manchester United man is the record scorer of knockout goals, with 65 of his Champions League goals have come from the round of 16 onwards, compared to Messi's 48.

Most of the goals also came in spectacular individual performances that helped bail Real Madrid out when their backs were against the wall, with hat-tricks against Wolfsburg, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, and Bayern Munich all proving crucial to Los Blancos' record-breaking three-peat.

Even with Juventus, Ronaldo brought his A-game to the fore in the round of 16 in 2019 with another three-goal haul against Atletico Madrid to help the Bianconeri overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit and eliminate a side that is notorious for its defensive rigidity.

On the international scene, Portugal is not left out, and Ronaldo has also shone brightly when needed.

It was his goals in the group stage of Euro 2016 that helped his nation squeeze through to the knockout round as one of the best losers en-route to winning the tournament, while he also scored all four goals against Sweden in the play-off to help Portugal achieve qualification for the 2014 World Cup.

In May 2019, he returned from an international hiatus to fire a hat-trick past Switzerland in the semi-final to help his nation make it to the final and even though he was quiet in the showpiece event, they would not have gotten as far as that without the output of their talisman.

In respect to Messi, he also has a repertoire of standout moments, but they are neither as frequent as Ronaldo's nor do they come on the biggest stages.

Most of his standout individual performances have come in less important fixtures and there are only a handful of legendary displays when it matters most, with his hat-trick away to Bolivia to help Argentina qualify for the 2018 World Cup the one that readily comes to mind.

Throughout his career, Ronaldo has proven to be a man for the big occasions and the big stages are generally what defines the career of legendary players and in light of his displays when it matters most, he deserves to be rated higher than Messi.