One of the aspects of the eternal rivalry between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can be found in free kicks. Each has his own style, but which is better than the other? We review all their free kicks to see how evenly matched they are: there is currently only a two-goal difference between the two, which already favours the Argentinian.
Between greats, the differences tend to be small. For more than a decade, the Messi-Ronaldo battle has been going on every weekend, every goal, every dribble. The Argentinian and the Portuguese want to be remembered forever and the truth is that their achievements are almost unbeatable. As of today, both have surpassed 700 goals in their careers.
They have faced each other in every aspect. Scoring more braces, hat tricks, goals in the Champions League, goals from the penalty spot... At this point, it is time to look at another statistic that is not so common: which of the two has scored more free-kick goals?
According to BeSoccer Pro data, Lionel Messi is currently ahead in this area. Although Cristiano Ronaldo has been ahead historically, the Argentinian has managed to come from behind in recent years to take the lead.
The current Al-Nassr player has 59 such goals, now three fewer than the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, as he scored his first free-kick for the Saudi side two weeks ago and also scored for Portugal. Cristiano's free-kick goals can be summed up as follows: 14 with Manchester United, 32 with Real Madrid, 1 with Juventus, 1 with Al-Nassr and 11 with Portugal.
Messi has scored a total of 62, including 50 with Barcelona, 10 with Argentina and two with PSG, with whom he scored the last one against Lille. Ronaldo's years in the top flight are more than Messi's, which is why the Portuguese had more options to increase his personal tally, but has ended up surpassing him.
The '10' has cut the gap drastically over the last few seasons to the '7'. To put it in context, at the end of 2016-17 Ronaldo had 52, while Messi had 33. Therefore, the sum over the last four seasons reveals a 7-29 win for the former Barca player.
The Madeira-born player's last free-kick that ended up in the back of the net was on 23rd March 2023, with his national team against Liechtenstein. He beat the goalkeeper with a stunning free-kick to the top corner form the edge of the box.
The former Barcelona captain, meanwhile, scored his last free-kick goal a few hours later, for Argentina against Panama in a friendly on 24th March 2023. The goal came late in the game off a free-kick which he curled in magnificently to the top right corner.