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#5 Match-winner
The sight of Leo Messi wheeling away after scoring a last-minute winner for Barcelona and Argentina has become de rigueur in 2017 - that's simply how often the diminutive wizard has been pivotal. In total, Messi has scored 14 game-winning goals from December 2016 to December 2017.
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Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't been too shabby either, scoring 12 game-winning goals in the same period.
However, I have a bit of a beef with how 'game-winning goals' are considered - stat boffins around the world consider the goal that made it 1-0 in a 5-0 thrashing a 'game-winner' when, in truth, it would barely have made a difference.
Even if we exclude these sorts of goals, Lionel Messi is far ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as well, being the difference in 7 games as opposed to Ronaldo, who's done it 4 times.
The fact that Ronaldo's 4 game-winning goals have come in finals is probably why he won the 2017 Ballon d'Or, but Messi can take comfort from the fact that he is far more pivotal than his greatest rival.
