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#3 Leadership
Cristiano Ronaldo is a leader of men and he has proved it at various junctures throughout his career. His work ethic and relentlessness, which he perhaps imbibed during his time at Manchester United, continues to be inspirational.
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Ronaldo is the kind of player who can elevate the performance levels of his teammates thanks to the sheer hard work he is willing to put in. He has a positive effect on his teammates and is always ready to take stock of adverse scenarios and motivate his side to give their best.
A winning mentality is of great importance for leaders and Cristiano Ronaldo has it in bundles. Messi is more of a team player and is perhaps not as flamboyant as Ronaldo. He doesn't really need to be when he can just fit in and play wonderful football but leadership is another aspect that Ronaldo is better at than Messi.
#2 Fitness
Cristiano Ronaldo treats his body like a temple and is uncompromising when it comes to fitness. That's why despite being 36-years-old he is still one of the best in the business. Most recently, at Euro 2020, Ronaldo made a 92 meter sprint in 14 seconds from one side of the field to the other to score a goal against Germany.
Ronaldo reportedly clocked 32 km/hr and that's quite incredible for someone his age. He has evolved into a centre-forward in recent times as he cannot keep sprinting up and down the pitch like he used to in the past.
Messi relies a lot on acceleration in short spaces and uses his burst of pace a lot to get beyond players. But he might not be able to do that for much longer. Even now, Messi can be seen wandering about on the football field when his side are not in possession.
Ronaldo is still more enterprising when it comes to helping out his defenders and tracking back despite being two years older than Messi thanks to his fitness levels.
#1 Performances in the UEFA Champions League
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two of the top goalscorers in the UEFA Champions League. Ronaldo has scored 134 goals in Europe's elite competition till date. Messi is not far behind with 120 goals.
While both players have won the Champions League multiple times, Ronaldo has produced more match-winning displays than Messi. Ronaldo has won four Champions League titles with Real Madrid and one more with Manchester United.
Messi has won it four times but he did not play a starring role in Barcelona's 2005-06 Champions League triumph. The Portuguese international, on the other hand, was the top scorer in the Champions League in each of the five seasons when he won it.
He has finished as the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League in seven seasons while Messi has done it six times.
