Messi & Ronaldo Scoring For Fun (And Records)

by Dugald Skene

It is March, right?

Not only is the British sunshine fooling us into believing it’s May, but so are footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.  Both players have set new records in the past week for club and league.   

Messi's hatrick against Granada last Tuesday (20^th) made the Argentinian maestro the highest scoring player in Barcelona’s history, taking him to 234.  Considering the striking talent that has existed at the club, certainly in the last 20 years, it is an astounding feat.  Add to that the fact he is still only 24 years old and it simply boggles the brain.

Messi has become Barcelona's highest ever goal scorer

Over at Real Madrid, the equally prolific Ronaldo scored his 34^th and 35^th league goals of the campaign against Real Sociedad at the weekend, making him the fastest player to score 100 goals in La Liga, ever.  What puts this particular accomplishment into focus is the number of games it has taken him - 92.  101 goals in 92 games!  It puts into shade the achievements of next best (and all-round legend) Ferenc Puskas who clearly took his time scoring his tonne in 105 games.

Ronaldo - 101 goals in 92 games

Both players would not be described as out-and-out strikers, Messi roams a little more behind his striking colleagues and Ronaldo is a winger, but both their respective teams have been set up around them to allow them both to play their games.

Pep Guardiola has a team full of world beaters playing a brand of football unmatched by most, a team that would beat pretty much everyone without Messi but who are unquestionably favourites in any game with him in their line-up.  He is Mr Barcelona, a player than epitomises the team, the ethic, the footballing philosophy at the club.  If Barcelona are ‘more than a club’, then Messi is definitely more than a player.

At Madrid, manager Jose Mourinho has in Ronaldo a match winner every bit as equal to Messi.  Very different in stature, size and resultant approach to the game, he has proved he can score a hatful of goals in every league he has played in.  In that 2008 season, it was easy to lose count on the number of games Manchester United won because, and only because of Ronaldo.  Perhaps more inconsistent than Messi, and certainly more dramatic, he provides an altogether different prospect for the fans and media. Compared to the relatively reclusive and private Messi, Ronaldo is the glamour boy of world football, and thrives on it.

So yes, it is still March, but both these players are set to break more records if they continue as they are this season.  You sense that the World Player of the Year award will go to the one who does better out of the Champions League this season, something that will play more on Ronaldo’s mind than Messi’s, and both will have thoughts on the European Golden Boot.  Whatever happens, it’s already been an epic season for both players.