TThe eternal comparisons between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo seem to have no end. Many soccer fans choose the 38-year-old Argentine captain as the sport’s GOAT, while others lean towards the 40-year-old Portuguese player.
The only thing that is certain is that both legends continue to demonstrate their talents on the field to this day. However, an interesting statistic shows the performance difference between the two.
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Who performs better when playing away?
The answer to this question could be the key to shifting the focus away from each player’s title numbers, goals and performances and onto other aspects of the game.
Playing away is a challenge and Leo and Cristiano know that well. The Portuguese player, who has played over 800 away games, has a statistical advantage.
The truth is that Ronaldo has scored 385 goals in 950 away games. Lionel, on the other hand, has scored 331 goals in 891 away games. This means CR7 has a 3.38 percentage point advantage.
Furthermore, the current Al Nasr star has an average of 40.53%, while Inter Miami’s idol has an average of 37.15%.
Additionally, CR7 currently has a total of 953 goals, 59 more than Leo (894) and closer to 1,000 goals.
Messi, on the other hand, surpassed his historical rival, scoring 782 goals as the player who scored the most goals without penalties (the Portuguese scored 773 goals and played 163 more games than the Argentine), reaching a total of 400 assists against Nashville SC on Saturday night, November 8th (Ronaldo has 266 total).
Beyond comparison, the data does not determine an absolute winner. The truth is that both achieved unusual consistency in difficult scenarios such as away games.
