Messi v Ronaldo: Who reached 40 goals quickest for Inter Miami & Al-Nassr?
Lionel Messi has now scored 40 goals for Inter Miami, but did he reach that tally quicker than Cristiano Ronaldo for Al-Nassr? We’ve crunched the numbers.
After joining Inter Miami in 2023, it didn’t take long for the Argentine to start making an impact at his new club.
Indeed, he won the Leagues Cup just a few months after joining the club and scored 10 goals in seven appearances as Inter Miami won their first-ever trophy.
He also guided the MLS side to Supporters’ Shield last season, scoring 20 goals in 19 appearances during the regular season.
While the 37-year-old has missed a sizeable chunk of matches in recent years due to injury, he’s still looks as sharp as ever when he is on the pitch.
Indeed, he’s already made a lightning-fast start to the 2025 campaign, having scored three goals and produced two assists in his first four league matches of the season.
Having now scored 40 goals for the club, Messi is also Inter Miami’s all-time top goalscorer, eclipsing the record which has previously been held by Gonzalo Higuain and Leonardo Campana.
In total, it took him 47 games until he notched his 40th goal for the club against Toronto FC.
As of writing, the 37-year-old averages a goal every 90.8 minutes for the MLS club and he averages a goal contribution every 60.6 minutes, which is quite the record.
In comparison, Ronaldo has also been scoring goals for fun since he left Europe behind in 2023 to join Al-Nassr.
The Portuguese forward quickly established himself as one of the best players in the history of the Saudi Pro League, having already broken several records.
After joining the Saudi side in January 2023, Ronaldo scored 14 goals in 19 appearances during his first campaign with the club.
His numbers then went stratospheric in the 2023–24 season as he scored a whopping 50 goals across all competitions.
Now aged 40, he’s continuing to slot the goals away with ease, having added another 30 goals to his collection already this season.
Amazingly, it also took Ronaldo 47 games until he scored his 40th goals for Al-Nassr – the exact same amount of matches that it took Messi at Inter Miami.
However, Messi did manage to reach the 40-goal milestone having played fewer minutes than Ronaldo and he also produced more assists in that time too.
Here’s the full breakdown of how long it took both Messi and Ronaldo to reach 40 goals for Inter Miami and Al-Nassr, respectively.
How long it took Messi to reach 40 Inter Miami goals
Games: 47
Goals: 40
Assists: 20 ⭐
Goal contributions: 60 ⭐
Penalties: 1
Free-kicks: 3 ⭐
Minutes per goal: 90.8 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 93.2 ⭐
Minutes per goal or assist: 60.6 ⭐
How long it took Ronaldo to reach 40 Al-Nassr goals
Games: 47
Goals: 40
Assists: 12
Goal contributions: 52
Penalties: 9 ⭐
Free-kicks: 2
Minutes per goal: 104.8
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 135.2
Minutes per goal or assist: 80.6
READ NEXT: Comparing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s unbelievable records in finals
TRY A QUIZ: The Ultimate Lionel Messi Quiz: 30 tough questions to test your knowledge of the GOAT