Comparing Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo’s head to head record

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are unquestionably the two greatest players of their generation but how does their head to head record compare?

Ronaldo and Messi have dominated football’s individual awards ever since 2007 when Kaka won the Ballon d’Or.

The duo have won that prestigious 12 times combined, with the Manchester United striker clocking up five victories while his rival has claimed it on seven separate occasions.

And, while the pair have collected trophies and accolades throughout their careers, it’s their goalscoring exploits that have inevitably seen the two players compared with each other relentlessly – no more so than when the two have directly faced each other.

Messi and Ronaldo have played against each other on 34 occasions, the majority being El Classico match-ups – and it’s the Barcelona legend that has the edge over his contemporary with 15 wins to Ronaldo’s 10.

While their goalscoring records are remarkably similar, Messi has provided significantly more assists but Ronaldo has been more prolific from the penalty spot.

We’ve crunched the numbers and have created a detailed breakdown of Messi and Ronaldo’s statistics when the two players have played against each other.

Note: Ronaldo and Messi also played two international friendlies that we’ve not included.

Games: 34 

Won: 15

Drawn: 9

Lost: 10

Points per game: 1.58

Win rate: 44.1%

Loss rate: 29.4%

Goals: 21

Assists: 11

Penalties scored: 6

Minutes per goal: 143

Minutes per non-penalty goal: 200.3

Minutes per goal or assist: 93.9

Games: 34

Won: 10

Drawn: 9

Lost: 15

Points per game: 1.14

Win rate: 29.4%

Loss rate: 44.1%

Goals: 20

Assists: 1

Penalties scored: 9

Minutes per goal: 144.8

Minutes per non-penalty goal: 263.3

Minutes per goal