Comparing Neymar’s career record now to Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo at the age of 33
Neymar turned 33 earlier this week and marked the occasion with his long-awaited second debut for Santos.
How do his career stats stack up against the two era-defining players of this era, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo when they were the same age? We’ve delved into the numbers.
The Brazilian forward is now back where it all began after 18 months of injury hell at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal. Despite a season and a half of his career basically being a write-off, his goal and assist output still compares remarkably favourably when you compare it to Messi and Ronaldo.
“Facing Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – and I played with Messi, who is, for me, one of the greatest footballers of all time, and he is my idol in football,” Neymar said of the two great rivals, speaking to The Players’ Tribune back in 2018.
“With Messi, I learned every day, whether during our practice, or playing with him, or just watching him play. And that made me stronger and it increased my capacity on the field because I kept learning a lot from him.
“As for Cristiano Ronaldo, he is a monster. Facing him is a pleasure and an honor, but we have to be more prepared. He is one of the greatest in football so you get smarter, you get alert, but at the same time you learn a lot, too.
“So, they are two of the big guys that I can relate to, because I want to learn, I want more, I want to win, I want more trophies, score more goals … so I keep learning from them every day.”
During his first stint at Santos, Neymar notched a massive 200 combined goals and assists in just 225 appearances. His output was even more prolific at Barcelona, where he won the treble alongside Messi and Luis Suarez in 2014-15, while his best numbers came for PSG – in spite of suffering badly with injuries after his world-record transfer.
Neymar is also Brazil’s all-time top goalscorer, with an outrageous record of 79 goals and 59 assists from just 128 caps for the Selecao.
How do those numbers compare to the otherworldly output of Messi and Ronaldo? Better than you might think, actually – particularly so when you consider how many games Neymar’s missed in the latter half of his career.
Of course, Ronaldo and Messi continued to enjoy great success well past turning 33. The former has continued banging in the goals up to his 40th birthday, while the latter enjoyed the greatest years of his Argentina career with two Copa America and the World Cup.
It remains to be seen whether Neymar will be able to follow suit and enjoy an Indian summer after his Santos return. Watch this space.
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Here’s how Neymar’s record at 33 compares to Messi and Ronaldo at the same age:
Neymar
Appearances: 719
Goals: 439
Assists: 279
Free-kicks: 19
Penalties: 87
Hat-tricks: 21
Minutes per goal: 134
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 167
Minutes per goal or assist: 82
Champions League Goals: 43
International Goals: 79
Trophies
Club: 1 x Copa do Brasil, 3 x Campeonato Paulista, 1 x Copa Libertadores, 1 x Recopa Sudamericana, 2 x La Liga, 3 x Copa del Rey, 3 x Supercopa de Espana, 1 x UEFA Champions League, 1 x UEFA Super Cup, 1 x FIFA Club World Cup, 5 x Ligue 1, 3 x Coupe de France, 2 x Coupe de la Ligue, 3 x Trophee des Champions, 1 Saudi Pro League
Youth: 1 South American Under-20 Championship
International: 1 x Olympic Gold, 1 x FIFA Confederations Cup
Individual: South American Footballer of the Year x 2, FIFA Puskas Award x 1, La Liga Best World Player x 1, Ligue 1 Player of the Year x 1
Lionel Messi
Appearances: 860
Goals: 699
Assists: 292
Free-kicks: 52
Penalties: 89
Hat-tricks: 48
Minutes per goal: 100
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 114
Minutes per goal or assist: 70
Champions League Goals: 114
International Goals: 70
Trophies:
Club: 4 x UEFA Champions League, 10 x La Liga, 6 x Copa del Rey, 3 x UEFA Super Cup, 8 x Supercopa de Espana, 3 x FIFA Club World Cup
Youth: 1 x Under-20 World Cup
International: 1 x Olympic Gold
Individual: Ballon d’Or x 6, The Best FIFA Men’s Player x 2, UEFA Best Player in Europe x 3, European Golden Shoe x 6, La Liga Golden Boot x 7
Cristiano Ronaldo
Appearances: 891
Goals: 628
Assists: 200
Free-kicks: 53
Penalties: 101
Hat-tricks: 48
Minutes per goal: 114
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 136
Minutes per goal or assist: 86
Champions League Goals: 114
International Goals: 79
Trophies
Club: 1 x Portuguese Super Cup, 3 x Premier League, 1 x FA Cup, 2 x League Cup, 1 x Community Shield, 2 x La Liga, 2 x Copa del Rey, 2 x Supercopa de Espana, 4 x Champions League, 4 x FIFA Club World Cup, 3 x UEFA Super Cup
Youth: /
International: 1 x European Championship
Individual: Ballon d’Or x 5, The Best FIFA Men’s Player x 3, UEFA Best Player in Europe x 4, European Golden Shoe x 4, La Liga Golden Boot x 7, 1 x FIFA Puskas Award, La Liga Golden Boot x 3, Premier League Golden Boot x 1
