Messi v Ronaldo: Stats reveal who has been the superior player this season (by a huge margin)

What's the story?

Who's the better player among Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? It is one of the biggest debate in international football. No other debate gets fans all across the world more radicalized than this one.

Well, one thing that might help us come to a conclusion are their stats. Though, both the players have been phenomenal this season, one of them eclipses the other by a significant margin, as revealed by Bet365.

In case you didn't know...

Messi and Ronaldo used to compete directly for the LaLiga and Copa del Rey trophies as well as the Pichichi Trophy for the nine seasons that the Portuguese spent with Real Madrid, becoming one of the legends of the game in the process.

Ronaldo left Spain and joined up with Juventus in Serie A in a €100 million transfer deal, becoming the most expensive player over 30 years of age in history.

Messi and Ronaldo both have won the Ballon d'Or, which is equivalent to being crowned the best player in the world, 5 times apiece.

Between 2009 to 2018, Messi bagged the LaLiga's top scorer award five times, two more than the Juventus ace.

The Heart of the matter...

Recently, Bet365 compiled 5 stats from the current season for the mercurial duo and posted it on their official Twitter account. From the tweet it became evident that, it is the Barcelona talisman Messi, who is younger among the two, has been much better this season for his club in terms of goal involvement.

While the Argentine has scored a whopping 29 goals across all competitions for Blaugrana , Ronaldo has managed 19 goals for the Old Lady, which is mind you, not bad at all.

It should be noted here that, the Barca captain was out injured for three weeks earlier this season.

Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo this season:Goals:Messi 29-17 RonaldoAssists:Messi 14-7 RonaldoKey Passes:Messi 89-44 RonaldoDribbles:Messi 96-33 RonaldoMOTM awards:Messi 13-7 RonaldoLionel Messi was out for three weeks through injury. 🐐

— bet365 (@bet365) February 2, 2019

Also, what this tweet misses out is the fact that Messi has also scored two hat-tricks so far, while the last time Ronaldo found the back of the net three times in a match was in the World Cup last summer, before the new season kicked off.

What's next?

Lionel Messi has picked up a thigh injury against Valencia on Saturday after he converted his 50th penalty in La Liga and was to his team's rescue again to pull his side level with a second-half strike.

Fans will be hoping he gets better before the El Clasico scheduled on Thursday 7 February at 1:30 am IST.