Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have both meted out heavy punishment to all Premier League clubs over the years. And this is despite the diminutive Argentine having never played in England’s top-flight.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, is a three-time Premier League winner who is currently enjoying his second rite of passage at Old Trafford, dramatically announcing his return at the opening of the 2021/22 campaign with four goals from nine games domestically, not to mention some goals in the recent Champions League matches that saved more than a few blushes for his Manchester United club.
Messi and Ronaldo against the English clubs
It has often been to the Argentine’s perceived disadvantage that some fans still doubt that Messi would be able to acquit himself well, let alone shine, on English shores despite the 6-time Ballon d’Or winner having more than proven himself in his razzling-dazzling, magical ‘other-worldly’ best against the stiffest competition that the Premier League has had to offer in encounters in the Champions League over the years.
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, there is yet a truth latent in quantifiable historical football data and concrete-hard statistics that could easily run contrary to the presumption that Messi wouldn’t be able to stand up well under the more physical demands in the Premier League, unlike his arch-rival Ronaldo.
While it is an absolute impossibility to recreate the entire division completely factoring in the presence of Messi, extracting information from data involving Messi in matches against Premier League teams in all and any other competitions flying under European banners – whilst also correspondingly showing Ronaldo’s results against the same Premier League teams – would definitely suffice to piece together a definite picture of how well both the superstars match up against each other in their stats against English clubs.
Ronaldo and Messi vs Prem ‘big six’
Comparisons between Messi and Ronaldo’s statistics against the English Premier League’s formidable ‘Big Six’ clubs have been made using data collected by William Hill prior to the Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City game and duly updating the data to include the most recent Wednesday’s game in an attempt to keep things up to date.
The premise is no doubt a fascinating one, and the ensuing results are even more intriguing in seeing how both the super strikers fare against each other by checking out their stats against the Premier League big guns below:
Record against Premier League ‘big six’ clubs
Games: Ronaldo 82-36 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 29-27 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 10-6 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.48-0.92 Messi
Record against Arsenal
Games: Ronaldo 15-6 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 6-9 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 1-1 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.47-1.67 Messi
Record against Chelsea
Games: Ronaldo 15-10 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 1-3 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 2-3 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.20-0.60 Messi
Record against Liverpool
Games: Ronaldo 13-4 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 3-2 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 1-0 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.31-0.50- Messi
Record against Manchester City
Games: Ronaldo 15-8 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 5-7 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 2-2 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.47-1.12 Messi
Record against Manchester United
Games: Ronaldo 5-6 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 3-4 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 0-0 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.60-0.67 Messi
Record against Tottenham Hotspur
Games: Ronaldo 19-2 Messi
Goals: Ronaldo 11-2 Messi
Assists: Ronaldo 4-0 Messi
Goal involvements per game: Ronaldo 0.79-1.00 Messi
Messi has a clear edge over Ronaldo
It’s simple: Messi’s statistics blow Ronaldo’s out of the water.
It is an empirical fact that Ronaldo amassed more goals and assists overall as it is also an undeniable fact that he was able to achieve across 46 more games than than diminutive arch-rival, so it’s already remarkable for Messi that the tallies are so close.
This is clearly reflected in the goal-involvement-per-game ratios because Messi averages 0.92 goals and assists against the Premier League ‘Big Six’ each time whilst Ronaldo is lagging far behind on 0.48.
Messi’s convincing advantage is more compellingly admirable as he has flat-out slotted in more goals past City, Arsenal, Chelsea and United besides also producing a superior goal involvement rate than Ronaldo against every single one of the clubs mentioned.
This Messi vs Ronaldo stats comparison has been done not with any intention at all to slight the Portuguese striker because his stellar record speaks volumes for his incredible abilities and achievements, but was executed so as to allow the volume to be turned down appreciably regarding claims that Messi would not be able to make the cut in the Premier League.
Which is absolute tosh.