According to official statistics, Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the greatest goalscorer in football history. Of course, before the superstar finally retires, some player a few years younger than him may have something to say about it.
Here's a comparison of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi scoring goals in different ways.
Left-footed goal
C罗（122）vs梅西（450）
Messi scored far more goals with his left foot than Ronaldo, and we weren't surprised by that. After all, Messi is primarily a one-legged player, and most of his goals are scored with his magical left foot. Although Ronaldo is second in this category, his 100 goals with his weak foot are also quite exaggerated.
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most bipedal players in the history of football, scoring more goals with his weaker foot than many with his strongest foot. This remarkable balance is the result of his constant honing of his skills on the training ground.
Goal with right foot
C罗（266）vs梅西（88）
About a third of Ronaldo's goals in the game came from his weak side. In contrast, Messi relies almost twice as much on his stronger left foot as the former.
Header
C罗（116）vs梅西（25）
It may be a little vague to judge Ronaldo and Messi by scoring the most goals with his left and right feet, after all, Ronaldo has a more balanced left and right foot, while Messi scores more goals. But if you rank by the number of headers, you can see at a glance whether they won or lost. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest header ballet dancers the sport has ever seen, with more than one goal in the air in his career. Of course, after all, Ronaldo is nearly 20cm taller than Messi, and Messi has only scored 25 header goals in his entire career so far.
penalty kick
C罗（143）vs梅西（85）
Ronaldo and Messi scored more than 200 penalties together, but the former is the "penalty king". Cristiano Ronaldo's penalties are not only more, but also more reliable. Messi's career penalty conversion rate of 78 per cent is almost on par with the average player, which is perhaps the only aspect of the game that he is not good at. Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty kick percentage is as high as 85 per cent, and the Portuguese penalty specialist has not missed a penalty in the league since conceding a penalty against Inter Milan for Juventus in May 2021.
Direct free kick
C罗（52）vs梅西（54）
Early in Ronaldo's career, he was considered one of the best free-kick goalscorers. He was one of the first players to master the technique of the lift ball and scored some absolutely brilliant free-kicks, including one of the best in Premier League history against Portsmouth. But as he grew older, his success rate dropped dramatically, and Ronaldo did not score a direct free-kick at club level for 651 days in his final years of European football, with Messi's free-kick trajectory being the opposite.
In the first 11 seasons of his career, Messi scored just 16 direct free-kicks at club level. In the three seasons that followed, he scored a total of 18 free-kicks, and the impressive increase in efficiency was the result of Messi's harder efforts.
Outside the box (excluding free kicks)
C罗（57）vs梅西（80）
Is this result surprising, although Cristiano Ronaldo's goal from long range is more impressive than Messi's. The all-time leading goalscorer for Portugal has more power on goal than Messi, but far fewer goals from outside the box.
门前吃饼（Tap-Ins）
C罗（14）vs梅西（9）
Be in the right place at the right time. For Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, eating cake in front of goal is just as important as shooting from 30 yards. As a recognized goalscoring machine, Ronaldo will naturally surpass Messi in this particular category.
Ride it alone
Cristiano Ronaldo (2) vs Messi (5)
Messi is probably one of the greatest dribblers in football history. Surprisingly, however, only five of his goals were scored on a single sitting. Cristiano Ronaldo is even less, having only completed two solo clearances.
Hat-to-the-hat method
C罗（55）vs梅西（48）
I believe that there should be a lot of game balls under Ronaldo's bed. The Portuguese legend has scored more than fifty hat-tricks, which is an unbelievable number. Cristiano Ronaldo scored just once in his first six years at Manchester United, while he scored a staggering 44 at Real Madrid.
In terms of hat-tricks, Messi is not far behind. The Argentine star has scored more hat-tricks in La Liga (36) than Cristiano Ronaldo (34). Messi's first career hat-trick came against Real Madrid in 2007, in a 3-3 draw, in which Messi contributed all of Barcelona's goals, one of the best Spanish derbies in modern football history.
Winning goal
C罗（181）vs梅西（150）
Not all goals are created equal. The fifth goal in a 5-0 win is not the same as the only goal in a 1-0 win. Cristiano Ronaldo has proven to be the best player at taking chances, taking the decisive lead more times than Lionel Messi – despite both scoring more than 150 winning goals.
Club Goals Total
C罗（751）vs梅西（724)）
Since Cristiano Ronaldo's move to the much less competitive Saudi Arabian Pro League, he has left Messi behind in terms of total goals. Messi left Europe six months later than Cristiano Ronaldo, turned down a huge offer from Saudi Arabia and switched to Major League Soccer's Inter Miami.
In the time they have been playing together in the top flight, Messi has a narrow lead over Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi scored 704 goals during his time at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, three more than Cristiano Ronaldo's European career at Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Both players are over 30 years old but still going strong, and it's hard to imagine them retiring anytime soon. While Messi may be two years younger than his opponents, Ronaldo certainly doesn't want to be the first to retire.