Without a penalty, Ronaldo lost to Messi.

Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the all-time leading goalscorer in football history. After 23 years of top-level competition and 1,245 appearances, CR7 boasts an incredible 907 goals. It's worth noting that of Ronaldo's 907 goals, 168 came from penalty kicks, accounting for approximately 18.5%.

If we consider goalscoring statistics without counting penalties, Ronaldo (739 goals) is not the top scorer. That title belongs to Lionel Messi. The Argentinian striker has scored 849 goals, but only 109 of those came from penalties, accounting for approximately 12.8%. Messi's number of goals from open play or free kicks is currently 740, one more than Ronaldo.

Messi has scored more goals than Ronaldo if you don't count penalties.

At the club level alone, excluding penalties, Messi has scored more goals than Ronaldo. After 889 matches with Barcelona and Inter Miami, Messi scored 652 non-penalty goals. Ronaldo played 140 more club matches than Messi, but scored fewer non-penalty goals, with 626 goals, 30 fewer than Messi.

In fact, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are players who are given the right to take penalties for their clubs and national teams. So where does this difference come from?

Why does Messi take fewer penalties than Ronaldo?

The aforementioned difference mainly stems from the fact that Messi takes fewer penalties than Ronaldo, both at club and national team levels. Additionally, Messi often gives up penalties to his teammates, especially during his time at Barcelona.

From 2013 to 2016, Ronaldo took more penalties than Messi each year. During that four-year period, Ronaldo was given 52 penalties, successfully converting 40 of them (76.9%), while Lionel Messi took 41 penalties, successfully converting 31 of them (75.6%). Ronaldo's penalty conversion rate was slightly higher.

The disparity peaked in 2023, when Ronaldo was awarded 15 penalties for playing with Portugal and Al Nassr. He successfully converted all 15, achieving a 100% success rate. In 2023, Messi did not take any penalties, so naturally, he did not score any goals from the penalty spot.

Messi did not score any penalty goals in 2023.

This year, Messi has scored 28 goals, but only 1 (3.5%) of them came from a penalty. Ronaldo has scored 34 goals in 2024, and 7 (20.5%) of those were penalties. If penalties are excluded, Messi and Ronaldo will have the same number of goals in 2024 (27 each).

2024 saw outstanding performances from both football legends. Messi scored two hat-tricks in four days, helping Argentina and Inter Miami win convincingly with scores reminiscent of a tennis set. Prior to that, "El Pulga" led Inter Miami to victory in the MLS Supporters' Shield, finishing the domestic league with a record number of points (74).

However, with Ronaldo's consistent goal-scoring performance, the chances of Messi catching up in terms of goals (including penalties) are very slim. Ronaldo is currently ranked 3rd in the Saudi Pro League top scorer list with 6 goals, behind Karim Benzema (8 goals) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (9 goals). Ronaldo's most recent goal for Al Nassr was a penalty, helping Al Nassr win 2-1 against Al Shabab.

Ronaldo has currently scored 907 goals, still quite far from the 1000-goal mark. If he maintains the form he has shown over the past two years, CR7 will need another 2-3 seasons to achieve this goal.

Thanh Loc

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/khong-co-penalty-ronaldo-thua-messi-ar902965.html