Comparing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s goalscoring records without penalties

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s fans often bring up penalties when comparing their respective careers and achievements – but how would their ridiculous goalscoring records compare if you took away spot kicks?

Ronaldo has scored 893 goals in total for Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr and Portugal. That’s 58 more than his eternal rival Messi. But what about non-penalty goals?

Things get a lot closer then. Messi – for Barcelona, PSG, Inter Miami and Argentina – has scored just three fewer non-penalty goals than Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has scored a total of 164 penalties (not including shootouts) in his career, with a conversion rate of 84.5%.

Messi, on the other hand, has scored just 109 penalties, of the 140 he’s taken – that’s a conversion rate of 77.9%.

Of Ronaldo’s 164 career penalties, 111 have been scored in league competitions, 19 in the Champions League and 20 have been on the international stage with Portugal.

Messi has actually scored more penalties for Argentina (24) than Ronaldo has for Portugal (20), boasting a better international conversion rate (82%) than Ronaldo (71.4%).

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Here’s how their goalscoring records break down in full if you don’t include penalties, broken down in detail:

Lionel Messi

Games: 1063

Total career non-penalty goals: 726
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 120 ⭐

Club non-penalty goals: 642 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 112 ⭐

International non-penalty goals: 84
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 181.6

League non-penalty goals: 446 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 108 ⭐

Champions League non-penalty goals (knockouts): 111 (41)
Minutes per non-penalty goal (knockouts): 123 ⭐ (162)

World Cup non-penalty goals (knockouts): 9 ⭐ (2 ⭐)
Minutes per non-penalty goal (knockouts): 257 ⭐ (588 ⭐)

Cristiano Ronaldo

Games: 1226

Total career non-penalty goals: 729 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 137

Club non-penalty goals: 619
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 134

International non-penalty goals: 110 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 151.4 ⭐

League non-penalty goals: 434
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 129

Champions League non-penalty goals (knockouts): 121 ⭐ (60⭐)
Minutes per non-penalty goal (knockouts): 135 (125⭐)

World Cup non-penalty goals (knockouts): 5 (0)
Minutes per non-penalty goal (knockouts): 352 (N/A)