Well celebrating the 10 years of one of the greatest rivalries of sports period.

The Cristiano Ronaldo–Lionel Messi rivalry is a rivalry in association football
between two perceived rival players. Ronaldo and Messi are both
regarded as being among the all-time great players in the sport, having
won a combined seven FIFA Ballon d'Or awards. Both players have scored in two UEFA Champions League
finals and have regularly broken the 50 goal barrier in a single
season. Both have scored over 400 goals in their career for club and
country.

However, in this topic we will talk about their first 5 years of their rivalry.

Messi.(17-21)

The
little magician, A Genius, The boy who casts spells when he touches the
ball- messi is one of the best players of all time, no matter how you
see it, He is even regarded as the best player from fans, players and
coaches.

Even though he had growth problems, he managed to
accomplish a childs life-long dream. With his small height and low
center of gravity, messi can dribble any number of players and still has
the ball stick to his feet, he can do anything longb runs, amazing pass
jaw-dropping dribbles and much more- even though he lacked sheer power
and heading abilities he was still a big threat to many opponents.

Stats.

Apps: 161 Goals: 80 C.rate: 0.49 per game

Quotes (the ones stated from 2004-2009)

"I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi."

— Diego Maradona on the 18-year-old Messi, February 2006

Ronaldo (18.5-23)

The
defenders enemy, dancing feet aand scoring machine- Ronaldo is
alongside messi as one of the greatest players of all time, though some
may hate him for his arrogance on the pitch, for raw talent, he is just
worth every penny.

Ronaldo made an excellent debut wearing
uniteds number 7 and was involved in the 3 goals for uniteds 4-0 win
against bolton. He was the complete player, dribbling, skills, long
range, freekicks, headers and much more, he didnt had the "gentle" touch
of messi which made messi having the upper hand, but aside of that he
was without a doubt in a making of being one of the all-time greats.

Stats

Apps: 252 Goals: 112 C.rate: 0.44 per game

Quotes

"There have been a few players described as ‘the new George Best’ over
the years, but this is the first time it's been a compliment to me."

— Former Manchester United player George Best on the 18 year old Ronaldo

*"The amount of goals and the amount of assists he's had has been
frightening. I haven't seen anybody take players on, score goals and
make goals like he has in this first half of the season, so he
rightfully deserves that tag [of being the world's best player]."

• — Teammate Paul Scholes on Ronaldo's form in the 2006–07 season.

"He’s the one player I’d love to pay money to go and see play. I’m
sure Ronaldo is already in the ‘best in the world’ bracket. He’s only 21
and he will get even better."
— Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

• Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United.*

— Dutch legend Johan Cruyff on the 23-year-old Ronaldo, April 2008

*"All
these great players over the years, the Maradonas, Cruyffs, Pelés -
they all took a kick. It didn't deter them at all. I remember wee Jimmy
Johnstone
At Celtic: he'd go straight at the defender who'd just fouled him to
let him know he wouldn't be bullied. Cristiano has a similar thing. He
had an operation in the summer, which was the result of consistent
tackling on him, but he's naturally brave. I don't think it ever stopped
Maradona, I don't think it stopped Pele. If you're them, you don't
think of that when you have a ball at your feet, because that's what you
want. It won't stop Cristiano and that's not getting recognised. He's
always wanting to do something with the ball, yet the fans chant,
'Cheat!' Well, who is the cheat? Who's cheating football? Not Cristiano."

• — Alex Ferguson

Hope you all enjoyed, however i would like som users to post stats like, tackles won, dribbles per game, assist etc

and videos for messi skills from 2004-2009, i found a ronaldo video but to be fair, its better to post them together.

Great post, +1!

Ronaldo started playing in October 2002, Messi started at the end of 2004.
If you want more fairness, you should compare both players 5 years start, Messi 2004-2009 and Ronaldo 2002-2007.

Ronaldo scored 55 goals in 221 games (0.24 per game) in his 5 first years at Sporting and United.
Messi scored 80 goals in 161 games (0.49 per game) in his 5 first years at Barça A.

Not fair to judge both from October 2004, Ronaldo played 60 games for 16 goals that year already part of Portugal national team while Messi played 7 games ( 0 as a starter / 152 min played ) scoring 1 goal.

If we put 2005-2010 for Messi considering he played less than 160 min in 2004, we would get :

Messi scored 126 goals in 205 games ( 0.61 per game ).

Ronaldo (2003-2008) : 113 goals in 235 games ( 0.48 per game ). ( 2002 he scored 5 from 31 games with Sporting )

Why dont you guys compare their career stats completely? Would actually be interesting as I've never really seen them.

Tiki, true, but take into account ronaldo played for two different teams and the premier league back then was way tougher than now

Btw do u know their other stats like assist dribble tackles etc.

Since joining Manchester United,

Ronaldo:

569 official matches
406 goals
129 assists
0.71 goals scored per match
0.23 goals created per match
0.94 goals created/scored per match

During his whole career,

Messi:

455 matches
386 goals
139 assists
0.85 goals scored per match
0.31 goals created per match
1.15 goals created/scored per match

Since Ronaldo joined Real Madrid

Ronaldo:

277 matches
288 goals
75 assists
1.04 goals scored per match
0.27 goals created per match
1.31 goals created/scored per match
49.2 matches per season (excluding current season)
50.4 goals per season (excluding current season)
12.4 assists per season (excluding current season)

Messi:

294 matches
306 goals
107 assists
1.04 goals scored per match
0.36 goals created per match
1.41 goals created/scored per match
52.8 matches per season (excluding current)
54.8 goals per season (excluding current)
18.6 assists per season (excluding current)

Thanks Dyna, but I want to discuss about their "5 years of rivalry" not their careers overall, like when ronaldo was at mu messi was at. Barcelona as a sub.

It wouldn't be fair tbh... it's kinda of hard to compare their careers, because Ronaldo changed club, and its obviously hard to get used to the club. It's not fair toc ompare the first 5 years, as Messi was a sub, while Ronaldo started more often

their 5 years of rivalry does not exist, unless you cheery pick Messi at the age of 17 and Ronaldo with already more than 100 games played, this sounds silly comparison for me.

Overall stats :

Messi : 431 goals in 551 games.
Ronaldo : 463 goals 717 games.

Its obviously hard to adapt moving from PL to la Liga : Bale, Modric, Suarez, Henry....
Its not hard obviously moving from la liga to PL : Aguero, Sanchez, Costa...

I keep saying and many players like Fabregas say the same, its easier to shine in PL individually, it may be hard League for teams, but for players its easy to shine in it, ask the PL newcommers and at the difference ask Suarez, Henry, Bale or even Neymar how was there first season in supposed Spanish weak league...

oh fuck, none of u understand, i mean lets talk about their performances during their first 5 years, fine lets leave their rivalry, lets just talk about their performances ffs.

Messi and ronaldo both made huge impacts in most of their matches even when they were young, messi made amazing runs and dribbles in la liga and ronaldo made fools out of the defenders even in his debut against bolton, in fact hate to say this, but Ronaldo made more dribbles in his first match with united than most of his matches in these few games

@rayrex7 Here is everything you want to know about both of them: http://messivsronaldo.net.

I actually agree 100% with Tiki on this

@Alex thanks for the site, it was really cool site!

@tiki honestly u are right, but the BPL from <2010 was way tougher and better than BPL now. The defenders back then we're ruthless and powerhorses now it's starting to be a bit like a 5 team league that's it