Assists
Why are your assist stats different to this other source?
Assist stats vary by source. There is no "official" assist definition, but the assist definition from Opta stats is the most widely used/accepted in football - they are the official data providers for many competitions and organisations such as the Premier League, La Liga, the BBC, WhoScored, SofaScore etc.
We therefore try to align all of our assist stats with Opta's.
What exactly is an Opta assist?
Most of the time, when you're looking at assist stats, you're looking at assists that have been collected by Opta. Most TV graphics, La Liga website, Premier League website, WhoScored, the BBC; these sources will all use Opta as their source for assists.
Opta's assist definition is as follows:
The final touch (pass, pass-cum-shot or any other touch) leading to the recipient of the ball scoring a goal. If the final touch (as defined in bold) is deflected by an opposition player, the initiator is only given a goal assist if the receiving player was likely to receive the ball without the deflection having taken place. Own goals, directly taken free kicks, direct corner goals and penalties do not get an assist awarded.
Why are Transfermarkt's assist stats so different?
As explained above, Opta's assist definiton is the most widely used and accepted in football. Transfermarkt on the other hand are much more loose with their assist definition; they count deflected passes, rebounded shots, penalties won, and own goal assists.
That's why their assist stats are more inflated than other sources. You will see Transfermarkt's assist numbers quite frequently on social media because their data is really accessible - it's the only well known source where you can easily get career stats for any player.
However they are seemingly very inconsistent in terms of awarding assists and there are subsequently many holes in their data. You can view a full list of all assists that Transfermarkt are missing from their records over on our Info page.
Although we use the Opta assist definition throughout this site, we do have a single page that lists all types of assist, including deflected passes, goalkeeper rebounds, post rebounds, penalties won (scored by others) and own goal assists: All Assists (+ non-Opta)
Why are the assist numbers published by MLS for Messi different to yours?
MLS has its own unique way of counting assists that differs to the rest of the footballing world. Although they use Opta data, MLS assists are made up of two separate Opta stats.
MLS assists include the standard Opta assists, but they also include "secondary assists", which are passes made to the assister that are instrumental in creating the goal. These are often referred to as "pre-assists", but to clarify, not every pre-assist is counted, just the ones that are deemed instrumental in creating the goal.
Why are your Champions League assist stats different to the UEFA website?
The assist list on UEFA's website includes qualifying - Ronaldo has 1 assist in Champions League Qualifiers (for Manchester United), so that's why he has 1 more assist on the UEFA website.
It should also be noted that the list on UEFA's website is only since 2002.
Why are your Champions League assist stats different to Opta's?
UEFA are one of the few major organisations that don't use Opta as their data provider. There are therefore many differences between Opta's and UEFA's UCL assists for Messi and Ronaldo (some that Opta give and UEFA don't, and vice versa).
The end result is: Opta's Champions League assist count is 40 for Ronaldo and 39 for Messi. UEFA's count is 41 for Ronaldo and 40 for Messi.
HOWEVER, despite normally using Opta assists across every competition on this site, in this case we credit Ronaldo with 41 UCL assists and Messi with 40.
This is the one time we have deviated from Opta's judgment on assists. We believe there is one additional assist for each player that meets Opta's criteria; Messi vs Viktoria Plzn (19th Oct 2011) and Ronaldo vs Marseille (8th Dec 2009). We were also constantly being messaged about why our count was different to UEFA's, so it was a convenient change to make.
It should be noted that this doesn't make UEFA "correct". Their list of assists is very different to ours, we just happen to arrive at the same numbers. UEFA's data provider is primarily a TV graphics company that also collects stats on the fly, so are nowhere near as reliable as Opta.
Does Ronaldo have the most assists in Champions League history?
The list on the UEFA website shows Ronaldo top with 42 assists. However, this list includes qualifying (which Ronaldo has 1 assist in), and despite the page title saying "All Time", the list only shows assists since 2002.
According to Opta, Ryan Giggs has 41 Champions League assists, and Ronaldo has 40. So as far as Opta are concerned, Giggs has the record.
However, we credit Ronaldo with 41 Champions League assists (see previous question regarding the deviation from Opta), so for us, Giggs and Ronaldo share the record for all time Champions League assists.
How many assists did Ronaldo make in Euro 2016?
UEFA credit Ronaldo with 3 assists at Euro 2016 which includes a goalkeeper rebound after his shot was saved before Quaresma's goal vs Croatia. UEFA are one of the few major organisations in football that don't use Opta as their data provider; a rebounded shot does not count as an Opta assist. Ronaldo therefore made 2 assists at Euro 2016 according to the Opta definition.
Why is your Argentina assist count for Messi different to other sources?
Some media may choose to use the Transfermarkt assist number. This is not "wrong" but they do not use a standard assist criteria (see the first 3 questions above).
Some sources who do use the standard assist criteria credit Messi with an assist vs Croatia in an international friendly on 12th November 2014. We removed this assist from Messi's tally in 2023.
At the time, the goal was widely credited to Ansaldi (who received the ball from Messi). However, the ball went in following a significant deflection off Sergio Aguero - and footage shows that Ansaldi's shot was also likely going wide.
Although most live score apps still show Ansaldi as the scorer, there is enough evidence to suggest that this was later recognised as a mistake by some important sources. The BBC scoresheet for the match (which uses Opta data) changed to show Aguero as the scorer with an Ansaldi assist. And many other sources who typically use Opta data credit Aguero with 42 international goals (not 41).
The AFA (Argentine Football Association) also credit Aguero with 42 goals.
These factors (along with the footage clearly showing that it should be Aguero's goal) were enough for us to make the change and remove the assist.
Outside the Box Goals
Why is this goal listed as inside the box? It looks outside to me!
A goal is only considered as outside of the box if the whole of the ball is outside the box when the ball leaves the shooting player's foot. This means that even if the ball is slightly touching the 18 yard line, it goes down as an inside the box goal.
If you're unsure whether a goal was inside or outside, you can view the shot location on WhoScored (using their Chalkboard feature) or on SofaScore (using their shot map). This data comes straight from Opta.
However, we know of at least one mistake: WhoScored shows a Ronaldo goal vs Dortmund (24/10/2012) as inside the box - footage shows this was clearly outside the box.
Why does this video show Ronaldo with a lot more outside the box goals?
We have been sent this video a number of times, which suggests that Ronaldo has many more outside the box goals than the stats suggest.
The truth is that many of the goals in this video are in friendlies or are simply inside the box. Here's a full breakdown of the video:
- 0:00 vs Moreirense - inside box
- 1:26 vs ? - friendly
- 1:44 vs Oxford - friendly
- 1:51 vs Sevilla - friendly
- 2:20 vs European XI - charity game
- 2:39 vs Seoul - friendly
- 4:58 vs Marseille - inside box
- Video missing a free kick goal vs Getafe 25/03/2010
- 5:25 vs Club America - friendly
- 6:32 vs Hertha - friendly
- 9:08 vs Bournemouth - friendly
- 9:13 vs Chelsea - friendly
- 9:21 vs Inter - friendly
- 9:44 vs Sevilla - inside box
- 10:58 vs AC Milan - friendly
Trophies
How many trophies have Messi and Ronaldo won exactly?
You will often see quite different total trophy counts on social media for both Messi and Ronaldo, but why?
The main reason is because there are some Super Cup wins they have not participated in; some people count these as trophies won, some people don't. It simply depends on your opinion, but most sources do count these.
Messi was not in the squad for Barcelona's successful 2005 Supercopa de Espana final.
Ronaldo was an unused sub for Sporting's Super Cup win in 2002. He was also not in the squad for Manchester United's Community Shield win in 2008, or for Real Madrid's UEFA Super Cup win in 2016.
Another reason for differing total trophy counts is that some sources will include Messi's Olympic Gold Medal (which he won with an U23 Argentina side) and his FIFA U20 World Cup win, and some sources will not.
All career titles (including youth):
- Messi: 46 trophies
- Ronaldo: 35 trophies
Discounting Messi's Olympic Gold & U20 World Cup:
- Messi: 44 trophies
- Ronaldo: 35 trophies
Super Cups they were not in the squad for:
- Messi: 1
- Ronaldo: 2
Super Cups as unused sub:
- Messi: 0
- Ronaldo: 1
More recently there has been controversy about the status of the Arab Club Champions Cup (which Ronaldo's Al Nassr won in 2023), and whether it should be considered an official trophy or a preseason friendly trophy. Transfermarkt do not acknowledge the competition, but most other sources do count the stats and the trophy in Ronaldo's records.
Performance Stats
Where do you source your performance stats from?
All of the performance stats on this site, such as shots, key passes, successful dribbles etc. come from sources that use Opta as their data provider, such as WhoScored, SofaScore and FotMob. They are updated after each game but can be tweaked a day later following Opta's post-game checks.
Where do your Man of the Match stats come from?
The ratings and man of the match stats on this site are based on WhoScored's match rating system, apart from games they don't cover, in which case SofaScore or FotMob is used.
An official MOTM award has only been given in certain competitions in certain seasons, and are very difficult to find in retrospect. Using WhoScored MOTMs means we have this data for around 700 games for each player - if we tried to use "official" MOTM awards, we would likely only have around 100, and they would be for quite random competitions and seasons, so would make comparisons difficult to impossible.
Using an algorithm for ratings and for "man of the match" awards also ensures consistency across all competitions and removes the human error / bias element. Further to this, many of the "official" awards given these days are based on fan votes.