Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: Clear winner identified in list of top 10 players with highest percentage of MOTM awards

According to newly revealed statistic from GiveMeSport (via ThePopFoot on X), Lionel Messi has a colossal lead over Cristiano Ronaldo in the list of players with the highest percentage of Man of the Match (MOTM) awards in Europe's top five leagues.

The data has been collected from England (Premier League), Germany (Bundesliga), Spain (La Liga), Italy (Serie A) and France (Ligue 1) across the last 15 seasons (since 2009).

Messi won an astonishing 324 awards across 628 games for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, giving him a winning percentage of 51.6%.

In contrast, Ronaldo, who placed second on the list, had 176 awards in 612 games for Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid. This gives him a 28.8% win rate.

Even though Ronaldo's winning percentage is formidable in itself, this statistic seems to suggest that Messi was in a league of his own.

During their time in Europe, both players won every single individual trophy on offer. The Argentine won seven Ballons d'Or, while his Portuguese counterpart won five. The former added another one this season at Inter Miami, taking his total to an astounding eight.

Rounding out the podium is Brazilian star Neymar, with a 26.8% award win rate (90 in 336 games). Swedish marksman Zlatan Ibrahimovic takes the fourth spot, with 24.2% (96 awards in 396 games). French forward Kylian Mbappe is already in the top five at the age of 25, with 24% (82 awards in 342 games).

Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Arjen Robben, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard finish off the top 10.

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Lionel Messi's son Mateo goes viral for scoring incredible goal for Inter Miami's academy

A video of Lionel Messi's son Mateo scoring an incredible goal for Inter Miami's academy has gone viral on social media.

In the clip (from @PSG_Chief on X), Mateo can be seen absolutely confounding the defender with a silky touch before calmly slotting the ball into the bottom left corner.

The Argentine's two eldest sons, Thiago and Mateo, currently play for the Inter Miami youth academy. They have been doing really well across age levels.

Football has already seen many great players following in their fathers' footsteps and becoming succesful at the highest level. Mazinho with his sons Thiago and Rafinha, Alfie and Erling Haaland, and Lilian and Marcus Thuram are just some of the examples of world-class father-son footballing connections.

With the quality that Mateo is already demonstrating in the youth academy, we could maybe see another Messi take over the footballing world.