This is a thread settling the “Points Won” debate between Messi and Ronaldo this season once and for all.

There’s been some fake stats out there getting hundreds of likes - so any RT’s to get the real numbers out there are appreciated.

Let’s start by analysing the resource which set the debate off. This was a list of points directly won for their teams from goals scored, including club and country.

Ronaldo had 38, Messi had 22. As I made this resource, I’ll explain where those numbers came from:

First though - It’s important to define that points directly won traditionally come from match winning and match drawing goals.

The first goal in a 2-0 win is a match winner. The third goal in a 3-3 draw is a match drawer. It’s about clutching up at the right time to win points.

Let’s start with Ronaldo:

• Total Points Won From Goals: 38

- Match winning goals: 8 (24)
- Match drawing goals: 2 (2)
- UCL match winning goals: 1 (3)
- NT match winning goals: 3 (9)
- Goals when team lost: 4

The list of Ronaldo’s match winning goals from Transfermrkt is below. He also had match drawing goals against Sassuolo (Serie A) and Milan (Coppa Italia).

Teams of which he scored but lost to: Lazio, Napoli, Verona, Ukraine.

Ronaldo also had the match winning goal in 3 of his games for Portugal.

This was the 3rd goal in a 4-2 win over Serbia, the 2nd goal in a 6-1 win over Lithuania and the 1st goal in a 6-0 win over the second Lithuania game.

Now, Messi’s turn:

• Total Points Won From Goals: 22

- Match winning goals: 5 (15)
- Match drawing goals: 0 (0)
- UCL match winning goals: 1 (3)
- NT match winning goals: 1 (3)
- NT match drawing goals: 1 (1)
- Goals when team lost: 2

The list of Messi’s match winning goals from Transfermrkt is below. He also had match drawing goals against Sociedad (La Liga) and Uruguay (International Friendly)

Teams of which he scored but lost to: Levante, Atletico.

As you can see Ronaldo leads 38 - 22 in points won when using the traditional measure of match winning and drawing goals.

However, an oversight on my part was using 3 points rather than 2 for a match winner. It should be: 26-15.

Now, assists aren’t usually included in these stats.

This is because a point directly won, is won by the goalscorer - not the player who passes it to them. Not to say the assist isn’t important, but this is the metric.

This is also because historically goals have held more value than assists:

- Been recorded for longer
- The great players are all goal scorers
- The AVG goal requires more skill than AVG assist
- Goals happen W/O assists but not vice versa

However, we will play devil’s advocate for one side of the debate and count match winning and drawing assists to see what happens.

As mentioned, there is no resource for this as it’s not a stat used so I manually had to count these.

With Ronaldo’s 4 assists this season - only 1 was a “match winner”. This was the assist to the match winning goal vs Inter. Meaning 2 extra points won if we include assists.

For Messi, he had more assists this season, and 4 of these counted under the criteria as a “match winning assist” and 1 as a “match drawing assist”. This means 9 points won by Messi:

Therefore including assists - with 2 points for a match winner:

Ronaldo

- 26 points from goals
- 2 points from assists
- 28 points overall
- 4 GA when team lost

Messi

- 15 points from goals
- 9 points from assists
- 24 points overall
- 2 GA when team lost

As you can see - even if you include assists as the same value as a goal - Ronaldo still has won more points directly for his teams across club and country.

This is counting 2 points for a winner, 1 for a drawer.

However, I have seen some stats going around that Messi has had significantly more points won. Using the standard metric this isn’t the case, but I tried to test the authenticity of this.

I tried another counting method which goes as follows:

An involvement is counted as a match winner/points directly won even if it isn’t the decisive one.

IE, a goal at any point in a 2-1 win counts as the player winning 2 points, even if it is the 1st goal rather than the second.

Whilst this isn’t the player directly winning the points themselves and clutching in the right moments - I wanted to check if these sources were true.

Also - GA which aren’t necessary to win were counted as points won if they were match winners/drawers.

According to this different counting method - Ronaldo had 40 points “directly” won for his teams.

This is the breakdown:

And moving on to Messi - with the alternate method he has 37 points “directly” won for his teams.

So, even if you change the definition of points won to include assists and non-clutch goals, Ronaldo still has more points won that Messi.

As always - we need to add context.

In Messi’s case - Ronaldo played easier international teams. However, this is well balanced as Messi’s international games were uncompetitive friendlies.

In terms of games - they played a similar amount. This is 33 for Messi and 38 for Ronaldo. The difference was internationally, as Messi was banned for 4 international games due to obscene comments at last year’s Copa.

If you consider the points directly won per game with the authentic definition (26 points won for Ronaldo and 15 points won for Messi)

Then Ronaldo has a 0.68 PW/G, whilst Messi has a 0.45 PW/G.

If you are to use the other altered definitions, Messi will have a slightly higher PW/G, however he has halve the number of involvements when his team lost.

4 for Ronaldo vs 2 for Messi. This is relevant, as Ronaldo was more let down by his team’s performance.

Similarly, the last thing to consider is the opponents of matches missed.

Messi hasn’t missed any matches vs the bottom 7 teams, whilst he has a missed a UCL match vs Inter.

Ronaldo missed 3/4 matches in the league against bottom 3 teams.

Ronaldo also sat out the R16 against Udinese in the domestic cup, whilst Messi played vs Leganes.

This is relevant, as it means Messi’s GW/G would drop further in comparison to Ronaldo’s if he had played the harder fixtures.

Overall - it’s fair to say that Ronaldo has won his team more points this season via multiple counting techniques, even when assists are counted. The context further backs his case too.

Thanks for reading. Any RT’s appreciated.

The reaction: Let’s delve into the comments!

As you can see, Messi fans are happy to like and post fake stats showing he’s better, but when the true stats are shown that favour Ronaldo they’ll ignore it and say “nobody cares”

Worst fanbase in the world