Messi Stats All Time Internationals All Time Argentina
71Goals
42Assists
142Apps
165mins per goal
103mins per goal contribution
Ronaldo Stats All Time Internationals All Time Portugal
102Goals
30Assists
170Apps
132mins per goal
102mins per goal contribution
messivsronaldo.appAll Time InternationalsAll Time Stats
Goal Contributions
Goals
71Messi
102Ronaldo
Assists
42Messi
30Ronaldo
Appearances
142Messi
170Ronaldo
Minutes Played
11,693Messi
13,455Ronaldo
Goals Per Game
0.50Messi
0.60Ronaldo
Minutes Per Goal
164.7Messi
131.9Ronaldo
Mins Per Goal/Assist
103.5Messi
101.9Ronaldo
Hat-tricks
6Messi
9Ronaldo
Goals By Type
Penalties
16/20Messi
11/17Ronaldo
not including shootouts
Free Kick Goals
6Messi
10Ronaldo
Outside the Box
7Messi
11Ronaldo
not including free kick goals
Inside the Box
42Messi
70Ronaldo
not including penalty goals
Left Foot
65Messi
22Ronaldo
Right Foot
4Messi
55Ronaldo
Headers
2Messi
25Ronaldo
Other Body Part
0Messi
0Ronaldo
Competitive Internationals
Messi Stats Competitive Internationals All Time Argentina
37Goals
27Assists
95Apps
217mins per goal
125mins per goal contribution
Ronaldo Stats Competitive Internationals All Time Portugal
84Goals
21Assists
121Apps
123mins per goal
99mins per goal contribution
messivsronaldo.appCompetitive InternationalsAll Time Stats
Goal Contributions
Goals
37Messi
84Ronaldo
Assists
27Messi
21Ronaldo
Appearances
95Messi
121Ronaldo
Minutes Played
8,021Messi
10,373Ronaldo
Goals Per Game
0.39Messi
0.69Ronaldo
Minutes Per Goal
216.8Messi
123.5Ronaldo
Mins Per Goal/Assist
125.3Messi
98.8Ronaldo
Hat-tricks
2Messi
9Ronaldo
Goals By Type
Penalties
8/9Messi
10/13Ronaldo
not including shootouts
Free Kick Goals
6Messi
9Ronaldo
Outside the Box
4Messi
10Ronaldo
not including free kick goals
Inside the Box
19Messi
55Ronaldo
not including penalty goals
Left Foot
33Messi
19Ronaldo
Right Foot
3Messi
46Ronaldo
Headers
1Messi
19Ronaldo
Other Body Part
0Messi
0Ronaldo
International Friendlies
Messi Stats International Friendlies All Time Argentina
34Goals
15Assists
47Apps
108mins per goal
75mins per goal contribution
Ronaldo Stats International Friendlies All Time Portugal
18Goals
9Assists
49Apps
171mins per goal
114mins per goal contribution
messivsronaldo.appInternational FriendliesAll Time Stats
Goal Contributions
Goals
34Messi
18Ronaldo
Assists
15Messi
9Ronaldo
Appearances
47Messi
49Ronaldo
Minutes Played
3,672Messi
3,082Ronaldo
Goals Per Game
0.72Messi
0.37Ronaldo
Minutes Per Goal
108.0Messi
171.2Ronaldo
Mins Per Goal/Assist
74.9Messi
114.1Ronaldo
Hat-tricks
4Messi
0Ronaldo
Goals By Type
Penalties
8/11Messi
1/4Ronaldo
not including shootouts
Free Kick Goals
0Messi
1Ronaldo
Outside the Box
3Messi
1Ronaldo
not including free kick goals
Inside the Box
23Messi
15Ronaldo
not including penalty goals
Left Foot
32Messi
3Ronaldo
Right Foot
1Messi
9Ronaldo
Headers
1Messi
6Ronaldo
Other Body Part
0Messi
0Ronaldo
Copa America / Euros
Messi Stats Copa America / Euros All Time Argentina
9Goals
12Assists
27Apps
253mins per goal
108mins per goal contribution
Ronaldo Stats Copa America / Euros All Time Portugal
9Goals
5Assists
21Apps
199mins per goal
128mins per goal contribution
messivsronaldo.appCopa America / EurosAll Time Stats
Goal Contributions
Goals
9Messi
9Ronaldo
Assists
12Messi
5Ronaldo
Appearances
27Messi
21Ronaldo
Minutes Played
2,276Messi
1,794Ronaldo
Goals Per Game
0.33Messi
0.43Ronaldo
Minutes Per Goal
252.9Messi
199.3Ronaldo
Mins Per Goal/Assist
108.4Messi
128.1Ronaldo
Hat-tricks
1Messi
0Ronaldo
Goals By Type
Penalties
2/2Messi
0/1Ronaldo
not including shootouts
Free Kick Goals
2Messi
0Ronaldo
Outside the Box
0Messi
0Ronaldo
not including free kick goals
Inside the Box
5Messi
9Ronaldo
not including penalty goals
Left Foot
9Messi
0Ronaldo
Right Foot
0Messi
4Ronaldo
Headers
0Messi
5Ronaldo
Other Body Part
0Messi
0Ronaldo
World Cup
Messi Stats World Cup All Time Argentina
6Goals
5Assists
19Apps
271mins per goal
148mins per goal contribution
Ronaldo Stats World Cup All Time Portugal
7Goals
2Assists
17Apps
211mins per goal
164mins per goal contribution
messivsronaldo.appWorld CupAll Time Stats
Goal Contributions
Goals
6Messi
7Ronaldo
Assists
5Messi
2Ronaldo
Appearances
19Messi
17Ronaldo
Minutes Played
1,624Messi
1,474Ronaldo
Goals Per Game
0.32Messi
0.41Ronaldo
Minutes Per Goal
270.7Messi
210.6Ronaldo
Mins Per Goal/Assist
147.6Messi
163.8Ronaldo
Hat-tricks
0Messi
1Ronaldo
Goals By Type
Penalties
0/1Messi
2/3Ronaldo
not including shootouts
Free Kick Goals
1Messi
1Ronaldo
Outside the Box
2Messi
1Ronaldo
not including free kick goals
Inside the Box
3Messi
3Ronaldo
not including penalty goals
Left Foot
4Messi
2Ronaldo
Right Foot
2Messi
4Ronaldo
Headers
0Messi
1Ronaldo
Other Body Part
0Messi
0Ronaldo
All Major Tournaments
Messi Stats All Major Tournaments All Time Argentina
15Goals
17Assists
46Apps
260mins per goal
122mins per goal contribution
Ronaldo Stats All Major Tournaments All Time Portugal
16Goals
7Assists
38Apps
204mins per goal
142mins per goal contribution
messivsronaldo.appAll Major TournamentsAll Time Stats
Goal Contributions
Goals
15Messi
16Ronaldo
Assists
17Messi
7Ronaldo
Appearances
46Messi
38Ronaldo
Minutes Played
3,900Messi
3,268Ronaldo
Goals Per Game
0.33Messi
0.42Ronaldo
Minutes Per Goal
260.0Messi
204.3Ronaldo
Mins Per Goal/Assist
121.9Messi
142.1Ronaldo
Hat-tricks
1Messi
1Ronaldo
Goals By Type
Penalties
2/3Messi
2/4Ronaldo
not including shootouts
Free Kick Goals
3Messi
1Ronaldo
Outside the Box
2Messi
1Ronaldo
not including free kick goals
Inside the Box
8Messi
12Ronaldo
not including penalty goals
Left Foot
13Messi
2Ronaldo
Right Foot
2Messi
8Ronaldo
Headers
0Messi
6Ronaldo
Other Body Part
0Messi
0Ronaldo
Messi and Ronaldo International Stats
All stats on this page will auto-update
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have both had impressive international careers for Argentina and Portugal respectively.
Messi is Argentina's all time top goalscorer with 71 goals in 142 caps, scoring 0.50 goals per game. He's also Argentina's all time top provider with 42 assists.
Likewise, Ronaldo is Portugal's all time leading goalscorer with an incredible 102 goals in 170 caps, scoring an average of 0.60 goals per game.
If we look at minutes played, Messi scores a goal every 164.7 minutes, whilst Ronaldo scores a goal every 131.9 minutes.
Factoring in assists, Messi directly contributes to a goal every 103.5 minutes for Argentina, with Ronaldo scoring or assisting every 101.9 minutes for Portugal.
Clearly, both players have contributed to their national teams significantly and prolifically, and have done so for over 15 years. This is univerally accepted as far as Cristiano is concerned; unfortunately though, there is a popular Messi myth often parroted by casual football fans.
Dispelling the Messi myth
We've all heard someone say it at some point...
"Messi has never done it at international level"
This narrative has materialised through Messi's unfortunate record of having lost 4 major international finals with Argentina. However, this is akin to reading the headline and not the full article.
Curiously, many people seem to struggle with the concept that reaching the final is better than not reaching the final, and Argentina have done this on four separate occasions during Messi's senior career. They have lost just one of these matches during normal time, losing once in extra-time and twice on penalties.
It's tragically unfortunate to finish as runners-up four times (particularly in the aforementioned circumstances), but it seems odd to suggest Messi is an international failure because his side regularly made the top 2, but not the top 1.
If Higuain had finished one of his glorious chances in these finals, then it's likely that Messi would be lauded as an international success, which is a neat summary of everything that is wrong with the way footballers are analysed. Of course, Messi can't be completely absolved of blame, having missed a big chance of his own in the 2014 World Cup final.
It's probable that some well-meaning individuals fall into the "Messi has never done it at international level" trap because his goal return of 0.50 goals per game is significantly lower than what he registers at Barcelona. However, the same is true for Ronaldo, with his 0.60 goals per game considerably lower than his club level averages. Not to mention that 0.5 goals per game is the yardstick typically used to measure elite strikers; yet another case of Messi being a victim of his own absurd standards.
Leo Messi also plays differently for Argentina than he does for Barcelona, adopting a deeper, more playmaker-centric role. This is borne out in the fact that Messi has provided a whopping 42 assists on top of his 71 goals. As a result, when you factor in assists, Messi and Ronaldo have very similar minutes per goal/assist records at international level (103.5 mins per G/A to 101.9 mins per G/A).
If you're still in any doubt, let's look at some of the records Messi has set at international level.
π Most goals scored in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers (shared with Suarez)
π Only player to score for Argentina against every CONMEBOL nation
π Most Man of the Match awards at a single World Cup - 4 in 2014
π World Cup Golden Ball and Copa America Golden Ball winner for player of the tournament
π Most goals scored in a calendar year for Argentina: 12 goals in 2012
π Most hat-tricks for Argentina: 6 hat-tricks
Messi also posted some exceptional stats in his stand-out 2014 World Cup:
4 goals
1 assist
23 key passes (most in tournament)
46 dribbles (most since 1986)
4 MOTM awards (World Cup record)
The key difference between Maradona in 1986 and Messi in 2014, is that Burruchaga scored his one-on-one in the final, whereas Higuain didn't.
International Trophies
Of course, where Cristiano has the edge over Messi is that crucial major international trophy. Ronaldo has reached two major international finals with Portugal, both at the European Championships. His first, way back in 2004, saw his Portugal side stunned on home soil against pre-tournament outsiders Greece, who ran out 1-0 winners.
His second major final took place in Paris 12 years later, where this time the favoured team on home soil was the opposition: France. Unfortunately for Ronaldo, he suffered an injury after just eight minutes and eventually had to be substituted in the 25th minute. More fortunately though, after a tense goalless ninety minutes, Portugal's Eder struck the winning goal in extra-time from 25 yards. Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo were European champions for the first time.
In 2019, Portugal also won the very first edition of the UEFA Nations League, a brand new competition brought in to replace stale international friendlies. Ronaldo played no part in the four group stage matches, but when Portugal qualified for the semi-final stage, he came back with a bang, scoring a hat-trick to beat Switzerland 3-1 and put Portugal in the final. There they faced the Netherlands, with GonΓ§alo Guedes scoring the game's only goal.
Not a Euros or a World Cup, but a 2nd international trophy for Ronaldo in 4 years nonetheless.
Ronaldo's International Finals
β Euro 2004 - 0-1 vs Greece
π Euro 2016 - 1-0 (AET) vs France
π UEFA Nations League 2019 - 1-0 vs Netherlands
Messi's International Finals
π U20 World Cup - 2-1 vs Nigeria
β Copa America 2007 - 0-3 vs Brazil
π Beijing Olympics 2008 - 1-0 vs Nigeria
β World Cup 2014 - 0-1 (AET) vs Germany
β Copa America 2015 - 0-0 vs Chile (1-4 pens)
β Copa America 2016 - 0-0 vs Chile (2-4 pens)
Looking beyond Leo Messi's four major final losses, he also competed in the 2008 Olympics, where an U23 Argentina side (plus three over age players) won every game en route to the Gold Medal. So no World Cup or Copa America for Messi, but Olympic Gold surely softens the blow somewhat.
In addition to this, Messi also won the FIFA U20 World Cup in 2005, scoring 6 goals (including 2 in the final) along the way.
Competitive vs Friendly International Goals
Ronaldo has scored a much greater proportion of his international goals in competitive games than Messi has, scoring 84 out of his total 102 goals in competitive internationals (82.35%). Messi has scored 37 goals out of 71 in competitive internationals (52.11%).
Messi International Goals & Assists
Competitive games:37 goals, 27 assists, 95 caps
Friendly games:34 goals, 15 assists, 47 caps
Ronaldo International Goals & Assists
Competitive games:84 goals, 21 assists, 121 caps
Friendly games:18 goals, 9 assists, 49 caps
Cristiano Ronaldo clearly has the superior goalscoring stats in competitive internationals, but we must consider the level of opposition.
Level of Opposition
One reason for the contrast in friendly/competitive goals between the two is the type of opponents they typically face. In Europe, World Cup and European Championship qualification is split into several groups, with each group featuring a couple of extremely lowly ranked teams, such as Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Latvia, Faroe Islands and many more.
In South America on the other hand, they don't have a qualification stage for the Copa America, and World Cup qualification features a single group in which you must play all of the continent's heavyweights. There are also no real easy contests in this group, with even the lowest ranked side Bolivia being an infamously tough team to play away due to the unusually high altitude level.
As a result of these contrasting situations, Ronaldo has played many more competitive fixtures against lower ranked sides than Messi has. The average official FIFA ranking of Ronaldo's opponents in competitive matches is 53, whereas the average ranking of Messi's opponents in competitive games is 34.
To illustrate this, Ronaldo's top 5 favourite opponents in terms of goals scored in competitive internationals are Lithuania, Sweden, Andorra, Armenia and Latvia, who between them have an average FIFA ranking of 101.2.
Messi's top 5 favourite opponents in terms of goals scored in competitive internationals are Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay and Panama, who between them have an average FIFA ranking of 43.2.
To clarify, this is absolutely no slight on Ronaldo; if Messi had the opportunity to play against such low ranked teams with the same regularity then his most frequent victims would be very similar. The takeaway here is that there is relevant context to the pair's competitive/friendly scoring levels that cannot be ignored.
International Tournament Goals & Assists
Ronaldo made his major tournament debut on home soil at Euro 2004, in which he scored 2 goals and made it all the way to the final before a shock defeat to Greece. Messi debuted at the 2006 World Cup, where he scored 13 minutes into his first appearance; further goals scored at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups granted Messi the unique record of being the only player to score at a World Cup in his teens, twenties and thirties.
Messi Major International Tournament Goals & Assists
Tournament
Goals (Group/KO)
Assists (Group/KO)
Apps (Group/KO)
Out in
Awards
World Cup 2006
1 (1/0)
1 (1/0)
3 (2/1)
Quarters (pens)
Copa America 2007
2 (0/2)
1 (1/0)
6 (3/3)
Final
Best Young Player
World Cup 2010
0 (0/0)
1 (0/1)
5 (3/2)
Quarters
1 MOTM
Copa America 2011
0 (0/0)
3 (2/1)
4 (3/1)
Quarters (pens)
2 MOTM
World Cup 2014
4 (4/0)
1 (0/1)
7 (3/4)
Final (aet)
Golden Ball, 4 MOTM
Copa America 2015
1 (1/0)
3 (0/3)
6 (3/3)
Final (pens)
MVP, 4 MOTM
Copa America 2016
5 (3/2)
4 (0/4)
5 (2/3)
Final (pens)
3 MOTM
World Cup 2018
1 (1/0)
2 (0/2)
4 (3/1)
Last 16
1 MOTM
Copa America 2019
1 (1/0)
1 (0/1)
6 (3/3)
Semis
1 MOTM
TOTALS
15 (11/4)
17 (4/13)
46 (25/21)
2 best player, 16 MOTM
Interestingly, Messi has scored the majority of his goals in the group stages at international tournaments, but has made considerably more assists in the knockout rounds, with 13 of his 17 assists being provided in the knockout stages. This suggests that Messi perhaps plays deeper in the knockout rounds, preferring to attempt to dictate the attacking play via his playmaking abilities.
Ronaldo Major International Tournament Goals & Assists
Tournament
Goals (Group/KO)
Assists (Group/KO)
Apps (Group/KO)
Out in
Awards
Euro 2004
2 (1/1)
2 (1/1)
6 (3/3)
Final
World Cup 2006
1 (1/0)
0 (0/0)
6 (2/4)
Semis
Euro 2008
1 (1/0)
1 (1/0)
3 (2/1)
Quarters
1 MOTM
World Cup 2010
1 (1/0)
1 (1/0)
4 (3/1)
Last 16
3 MOTM
Euro 2012
3 (2/1)
0 (0/0)
5 (3/2)
Semis (pens)
2 MOTM
World Cup 2014
1 (1/0)
1 (1/0)
3 (3/0)
Group Stage
1 MOTM
Euro 2016
3 (2/1)
2 (1/1)
7 (3/4)
Winners (aet)
2 MOTM
World Cup 2018
4 (4/0)
0 (0/0)
4 (3/1)
Last 16
2 MOTM
TOTALS
16 (13/3)
7 (5/2)
38 (22/16)
11 MOTM
Having played in four European Championships and reaching at least the semi-finals in 3 of them, Ronaldo has played the most games of all time in the tournament, with 21 appearances. He's also the only player to score at four different Euros, and is the all time leading scorer in the competition as well with 9 goals (along with Michel Platini).
In addition to the finals tournament, Ronaldo also leads the way in qualifying too, having scored a record 31 goals in European Championship qualifiers, as well as a record 30 goals in European World Cup qualifying matches (correct as of July 2020).
With each goal, Cristiano Ronaldo is edging ever closer to the ultimate international record: the all time leading international goalscorer. This is currently Iran's Ali Daei who sits on 109 goals, just 7 ahead of Ronaldo on 102 goals. It's surely only a matter of time until Ronaldo can officially say he has scored the most international goals in the history of football.
Check out more of Messi and Ronaldo's international records over on the Records page.
Follow us on Twitter at @mvsrapp for more Messi vs Ronaldo stats.