Comparing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s stats over their last 250 appearances
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still going in the United States and Saudi Arabia respectively, but how do their stats compare over the last few years?
We’ve broken down the two rivals’ numbers, including goals and assists, over their past 250 appearances for club and country.
Ronaldo’s last 250 appearances go back to November 2020, when he was in his last full season with Juventus.
Since then, he’s scored 186 goals in 250 games and has averaged a strike every 113 minutes. He’s also produced 34 assists during that period, taking his overall goal contributions to 220 in his last 250 appearances.
While most players are long retired by the time they hit 40, Ronaldo still has the desire to score more goals and continue pushing the boundaries.
During the 2024-25 campaign, he’s scored 33 goals for Al-Nassr and is now only 66 goals shy of scoring 1000 career goals.
“I now face my life living in the moment. I can’t think long-term anymore,” Ronaldo said back in November when discussing the possibility of scoring 1000 goals.
“I can no longer think about what I said publicly that I wanted to reach 1,000 goals. But it seems that everything is easy now, just last month I reached 900.
“It’s about living in the moment, enjoying the moment, seeing the response that my legs will give me in the next few years.
“One thousand goals is great, but if it doesn’t come, I’m already the player in history with the most goals.”
In the case of Messi, his last 250 appearances go back to January 2020 during his final season at Barcelona.
Since that point, he’s scored 168 goals and has produced 99 assists, averaging a goal contribution every 95.6 minutes.
When comparing Messi’s numbers with Ronaldo’s, it’s worth pointing out that Ronaldo has scored considerably more penalties than Messi over the last few years.
In their last 250 appearances, Messi has taken 28 penalties and has scored 23 of them, whereas Ronaldo has taken 52 penalties and has converted 45.
Given that Ronaldo has been taking penalties at a far greater rate than Messi, it won’t come as much of a surprise that he’s scored more goals than his Argentine counterpart in recent years.
In terms of non-penalty goals, Messi does have a slight edge on Ronaldo, having scored four more goals in his last 250 appearances.
Messi also has the edge in recent years when it comes to free-kick goals, having scored double the number of Ronaldo in his last 250 games.
In truth, both of their numbers are exemplary, especially when you consider their advancing age.
However, as we cannot help but compare them, here’s the full breakdown of how Messi’s last 250 games stack up against Ronaldo’s.
Lionel Messi’s last 250 apperarances
Games: 250
Goals: 168
Assists: 99 ⭐
Goal contributions: 267 ⭐
Free-kicks: 14 ⭐
Penalties: 23
Minutes per goal: 127.4
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 145.2 ⭐
Minutes per goal or assist: 80.1 ⭐
Cristiano Ronaldo’s last 250 apperarances
Games: 250
Goals: 186 ⭐
Assists: 34
Goal contributions: 220
Free-kicks: 7
Penalties: 45 ⭐
Minutes per goal: 113.0 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 149.1
Minutes per goal or assist: 95.6
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