Composite image of Cristiano ronaldo taking part in for Manchester United and Lionel Messi taking part in for Paris Saint-Germain. Dec 2021. Credit: PA pictures
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ar doubtless 2 of the best footballers of all time – however they're currently within the twilight years of their careers. therefore however do their records compare in 2022?
Messi joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in 2021 however did not live up to expectations throughout his debut season in France.
The Argentina international received a wave of criticism following PSG’s Champions League last-16 defeat to Real Spanish capital and was booed by his own fans.
“The whistles against Messi? It’s unbelievable,” Mauricio Pochettino recently told ESPN Argentina. “These ar laborious things to simply accept. A tough scenario to imagine and that can not be understood in my opinion.
“All the additional therefore with the greatness of Messi, what he provides and can still provide to soccer.”
Despite the criticism, he’s since began to discover his best type and has helped PSG reclaim the Ligue one title. He conjointly looked very good for Argentina over the summer and has started the 2022-23 campaign with a bang.
Ronaldo was conjointly on the move last summer, exploit Juventus to hitch Manchester United for a second spell. He enjoyed an excellent begin to last season however things began to deteriorate underneath interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
The Portuguese Republic international had a extremely poor begin to the year and endured a notable scoreless run, failing to attain in six consecutive games for the primary time since the 2008-09 season.
He couldn’t facilitate United get past Atletico Spanish capital within the Champions League last sixteen and conjointly uncomprehensible a penalty in their solfa syllable Cup defeat against Championship aspect Middlesbrough.
There was some improvement from Ronaldo towards the top of the 2021-22 campaign, however he was unable to fireplace United to any tableware or a top-four end.
The 37-year-old is currently enduring a season while not Champions League soccer for the primary time in his career when failing to force through a move aloof from previous Trafford within the summer.
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Erik 10 Hag has did not ignite a direct improvement and Ronaldo currently seems to be suffering the affront of being a squad player. He’s featured within the Galilean League and has been used as a substitute by 10 Hag in recent weeks.
While the pair have won twelve of the last thirteen Ballons d’Or, they’ll be missing out this year. Messi hasn’t even been appointed whereas Ronaldo seems very unlikely to position on the rostrum, with Karim Benzema the sturdy favorite to life the golden ball.
We’ve taken a glance at the numbers to envision however Ronaldo and Messi ar performing arts for club and country in 2022. Here ar their stats from all competitions for Manchester United and Portuguese Republic and PSG and Argentina severally.
Note: We’ve enclosed the numbers from the international friendlies however have ignored their stats from any pre-season club friendlies.
Lionel Messi
Games: 37Starts: 35Sub appearances: a pair of
Goals: 20Assists: twenty three
Penalties scored: a pair of
Minutes per goal: 138.2Minutes per non-penalty goal: one hundred forty four.4Minutes per goal or assist: seventy three.9
Cristiano Ronaldo
Games: 33Starts: 26Sub appearances: seven
Goals: 13Assists: a pair of
Penalties scored: a pair of
Minutes per goal: 192.0Minutes per non-penalty goal: 226.9Minutes per goal or assist: 166.4
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