As of December 3, 2024, two of the greatest football talents in the history of the world’s most popular sport are still firing away in the professional ranks and continue to be called up for their respective nations. Cristiano Ronaldo, now 39-years-old, and Lionel Messi, now 37-years-old, are still giants of the sport.
Through their mostly fan-made rivalry, the two world-class forwards often present figures that can easily spark debate. Looking at Champions League stats, for example, Messi usually wins on averages for performance stats, while Ronaldo boasts larger hard numbers, 129 goals in 163 games to 140 goals in 183 games, for example.
Even through to the twilight years of their careers, the debate rages on, and given where they’re playing in the world in 2024 and 2025, there’s plenty to discuss. Here, we’re looking at their showings this season and this year, the quality of the competition before them, and if either could add more silverware this season.
Goals Galore in 2024
It’s been another big year for both Ronaldo and Messi. On the international stage, the Calendar Year stats page has the two in a close race for the top spot. Ronaldo looks to close out 2024 with seven goals and two assists in 12 games, while Messi rocks up with six goals and five assists in 11 games.
Ronaldo edges the minutes per goal, but Messi gets the nod for minutes per goal contribution. Looking at their performances in the Saudi Pro League and MLS gets a bit more complicated due to the scheduling of the leagues and the formats that they take.
Still, overall this year, Messi has 20 goals and ten assists in 19 games for Inter Miami in the MLS regular season, while Ronaldo will finish the year with at least 24 goals and four assists in 24 games in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr.
That said, last season Ronaldo scored a total of 44 goals in 45 games with 13 assists for Al-Nassr, adding another 15 goals and three assists in 18 games as of December 3 of the 2024/25 campaign. Overall, the 2024 season for Inter Miami in all competitions brought Messi 23 goals and 13 assists in 25 games, primarily due to injuries.
Quality of the Competition Assessed
The quality of the competition that both teams face in each game has always been a hot topic. Just as much as you can say Ronaldo faced the toughest competition in the Premier League compared to Messi’s time in Spain or France, you can now say that the MLS outranks the Saudi Pro League for competition quality.
In fact, according to Opta Analyst, the Saudi Pro League ranks 33rd in the world, while the MLS ranks ninth. There are a couple of caveats to this, though. Al Hilal ranks well above any MLS club, while Al Nassr and Inter Miami are almost level in the quality of their squads, and thus, the quality of the service and end product available to the legends.
Looking at the continental stage, both teams managed to reach the same stage last season. Al Nassr lost on penalties in the second leg of the AFC Champions League quarter-finals. Ronaldo scored six goals and an assist in his eight appearances en route. Messi scored twice and teed up two more in his three games to the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-finals – a competition for which Inter Miami entered at the last-16 stage.
Silverware Up For Grabs?
Silverware and winning titles with your team is always the ultimate goal for top-class players. Both have collected incredible hauls of team trophies over the years, as shown by the Honours & Achievements tracker, but both still seek league glory with their current clubs.
With the season underway and 12 games in, as of December 3, the Saudi Pro League outright odds at Betway Sports lean towards Al Hilal taking the title at -333, despite trailing the +300 Al Ittihad in the table. Ronaldo and Al Nassr stood third in the table and third in the odds at +1000 at the time of writing.
Seemingly, it’d take quite the turnaround for Al Nassr to end up on top of the Saudi Pro League this season. Now, the MLS works differently to the Saudi Pro League and European leagues in that it has a regular season round-robin table, as those other leagues do, but decides its champions based on a subsequent knockout playoffs format.
So, in the MLS, Messi’s win of the Supporters’ Shield – given to the team that tops the regular season table – doesn’t make him a champion. He’d need to win the MLS Cup. Last season, he and Inter Miami topped the Power Rankings going into the playoffs, but bowed out in Round One, losing 3-2 over two legs to Atlanta United FC.
We’ll have to see what work Inter Miami do in the offseason, but as far as the 2025 outlook goes, Messi would seem to be more likely to win another league title than Ronaldo. Still, in 2024, the two continue to be superhuman in their outputs.