Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may no longer be competing in the same league, but they’re still very much in competition according to a report by Diario Sport.
Ronaldo, formerly of Real Madrid, became the top scorer in football history on Tuesday, hitting his 763rd goal. Messi, still playing his football at Barcelona, is in fifth place in this ranking with 721.
The 42-goal difference between Ronaldo and Messi was forged between 2002 and 2007. Ronaldo, three years older than the Argentine, played more football in those years as Messi was developing and suffered from successive injuries between 2005 and 2007. From then, they’ve both scored exactly 691 goals.
Messi could catch Ronaldo depending on when the Portuguese hangs up his boots, but given his physical condition that could be some time yet. The averages favour Messi, with the Argentine scoring a goal every 101 minutes as opposed to Ronaldo’s scoring rate of a goal every 111 minutes.