Ronaldo vs Messi: Both had quiet El Clasicos but what do the stats say?

The planet’s two best players went head to head in the El Classico tonight, as Barcelonadefeated Real Madrid at the Nou Camp. Whilst much of the focus in this fixture is inevitably on the battle between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the pair produced one of their quieter El Classico’s – their contributions eclipsed by Alexis Sanchez’s exquisite chip. As Barcelona emerged victorious, Squawka’s performance score made it a double celebration for Messi, despite his old adversary Ronaldo laying on an assist for Jese.

By performance score, Messi outscored Ronaldo by 42 points to 176. This was mainly due to his contribution in possession and defensive areas. Going forward, Ronaldo gained a score of 30 – considerably higher than Messi’s respective score of 10.

However, Messi proved to be tidier in possession than his Portuguese rival. He completed 43 passes during the match – a figure of almost double the 23 that Ronaldo made. Ronaldo can draw some solace from a more accurate pass completion percentage than Messi. The Real Madrid man made 82% of his passes, whereas Messi only made 75%.

The reason for both Messi’s higher numbers and lower accuracy can be explained by the performance of the two men’s respective teams. Barcelona had more of the play than Madrid, meaning that Messi had greater opportunity to influence the game and get on the ball. This is evident when comparing the two players pass maps. Messi’s (above) shows that he made most of his passes in the Real Madrid half, whereas Ronaldo’s were in deeper areas. Many of Ronaldo’s passes went backwards, as the Madrid man cut a frustrated figure going forward. This helps to explain the disparity in pass accuracies, as Ronaldo was making safer passes in less dangerous areas.

When he did get on the ball, Ronaldo provided more moments of magic than Messi did. He successfully completed three of his four attempted take ons. This dwarves Messi’s two from seven attempts.

On a quiet night by the duo’s high standards, they only made three key passes between them. Two of these came from Ronaldo – leaving one from Messi – including an assist for Jese’s goal following a driving run forward.

Whilst neither set the game alight Messi scored a higher Squawka performance score. This came in what proved to be the better side on the night, following a disappointing performance from Real Madrid. Ronaldo may have set up a goal, but it proved to be little more than a consolation.