Comparing Messi and Ronaldo’s stats during peak Barca v Madrid, 2009-2018

Nestor Watach • 10 May 2025

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s rivalry peaked during their nine seasons as direct rivals representing Barcelona and Real Madrid. But which of the era-defining icons had the better record over that time?

Ronaldo signed for Madrid for a world-record fee in the summer of 2009, ushering in a defining period with his old foe.

It was around that time that Messi had taken his game to a new level, having shone for Barcelona as they completed a historic treble in 2008-09.

The Argentinian capped off an excellent season by scoring a rare header in the Champions League final, clinching the treble with victory over Ronaldo’s Manchester United.

Ronaldo was the Ballon d’Or holder at the time, but Messi would be rewarded with his first of a record eight later that year.

Sure enough, both players would soon live up to their billing as the two best footballers on the planet – consistently, outrageously, over those eight years.

With Pep Guardiola at the helm, Barcelona continued their domestic dominance following Ronaldo’s arrival. They retained their La Liga crown in 2009-10 and made it three in a row in 2010-11, a year in which they won another Champions League after beating Ronaldo’s Los Blancos in the semi-finals.

Across Ronaldo’s nine years with Real Madrid, he only won two league titles while Messi’s Barcelona won six (Atletico Madrid briefly broke up the duopoly in 2013-14).

The Catalans also won five Copa del Rey to Madrid’s two in that period, although the side from the capital won the 2011 and 2014 cups by beating their rivals in the final. Ronaldo scored the match-winning header in the former, but was injured and played no part in the latter.

While domestic silverware was comparatively paltry, Madrid came alive in Europe during Ronaldo’s latter years.

He suffered repeated European heartbreak during his early seasons at the Bernabeu but ended up playing a starring role in four Champions League triumphs – twice as many as Messi won with Barcelona in the same period.

Ronaldo famously averaged a better-than-goal-a-game average across his nine years with Real Madrid, while Messi wasn’t far off that for Barcelona over the same period, all the while notching considerably more assists and missing fewer games through injury.

Here’s how Messi and Ronaldo’s stats compare from the time they both in Spain at the same time, representing Barcelona and Real Madrid from the 2009-10 season up to 2017-18.