The two Argentine stars, Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, have been on the throne of world football for nearly a decade and a half, and competed to break records from season to season, which was a rich material for anyone who wants to compare them.
This report - published by Sportskeeda - reviews some of the records achieved by the Barcelona legend, which it is difficult for its traditional rivals to break in the period that remained for him before retiring.
Winning the Golden Boot 6 times
The Golden Boot is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a season in all of the continent's leagues.
When Messi and Ronaldo were at their peak, they competed each season to score the most goals to win the Golden Boot.
Ronaldo won the award for the first time when he was playing with Manchester United in the 2007-2008 season, and then won it with Real on 3 occasions in the 2010-2011, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons.
At that time, Ronaldo was superior to Messi, as the latter won the award only 3 times.
Later, Messi added to his tally 3 trophies in a row from the 2016-2017 season until the 2018-2019 season, for a total of 6 times compared to 4 for Cristiano, who may not be able to win the award 3 more times.
This season, Robert Lewandowski scored 41 goals and won the Golden Boot award, Messi finished second, while Ronaldo came third.
Winning the Golden Ball 4 times in a row
From 2008 to 2019, Croatia's Luka Modric was the only player to break Messi and Ronaldo's hold on the Ballon d'Or.
After Ronaldo won the most prestigious individual award in football history in 2008, Lionel Messi managed to win it 4 times in a row from 2009 to 2012.
Ronaldo won the award twice in a row on two occasions, but given his advanced age, winning four consecutive Golden Balls is impossible.
Most goals for a single club
The world of football has changed a lot, and it is exceptional for a player to stay in one club throughout his career.
Messi has played since the beginning of his professional career until now with Barcelona, while Ronaldo has worn the shirts of Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus, and he may enter a new experience with another club next season.
For this reason, Messi has the precedence of scoring a large number of goals with one club, and he holds the world record with 672 goals with Barcelona, and last December he broke the record of legend Pele, who scored 643 goals with the Brazilian club Santos.
For his part, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 450 goals in 438 games with Real Madrid, and he occupies the tenth place in the list of players who scored the most goals for one club, but he left Real Madrid and it is no longer possible to break Messi's number.
Most goals in one year
The Argentine reached the peak of brilliance in 2012, scoring 91 goals and winning the Golden Ball for the fourth time, and breaking the record for the number of goals in one year, which was achieved by German Gerd Muller in 1972 when he scored 85 goals.
The last time Ronaldo scored more than 50 goals in one year was in 2017, and his numbers have fallen since then, so it seems difficult to reach Messi's record.
Winning the Ballon d'Or 6 times
Messi surpassed his rival in the race to crown the Golden Ball when he won it for the sixth time in 2019, while Ronaldo scored it 5 times.
In 2020, the award was canceled and Robert Lewandowski was the favorite to win it.
In 2021, it is difficult to guess who the winner will be, and with their participation in the European Championships and the Copa America, there is still a chance for Messi and Ronaldo to prove that they deserve to win the Ballon d'Or.
But with the emergence of names worth Mbappe, Halland, Lewandowski and N'Golo Kante, it seems difficult for Ronaldo to crown the award twice more before retiring to break Messi's record.