Proving once and for all that Cristiano Ronaldo is BY FAR the best Champions League played of all time.

[A THREAD] https://twitter.com/lionelstat/status/1283108130482802693

First and foremost, let’s go over some of Ronaldo’s records in the UCL. Ronaldo has:

- most goals (128)
- most assists (40)
- most G+A (168)
- most goals in KO stage (65)
- most assists in KO stage (15)
- most goals in final (4)
- most TOTY selections (14, 5 as a midfielder).

- most goals in a calendar year (19 in 2017)
- longest goalscoring streak (11 games)
- most goals in a season (17 in 2013/14)
- 2nd and 3rd most goals in a season (16 and 15)
- most G+A in a season (22 in 13/14)
- most seasons as top scorer (7)
- most free kicks (12).

Some will point out that Msssi has a better goal ratio than Ronaldo in the UCL. This is true, however that’s only the case because Ronaldo didn’t score in his first 28 games since he was a midfielder.

During Ronaldo’s time at Madrid:

Ronaldo :

- 101 games
- 105 goals
- 31 assists
- 1.04 goal ratio
- 1.39 G+A/game

Messi :

- 102 games
- 83 goals
- 29 assists
- 0.81 goal ratio
- 1.10 G+A/game

Once they were both forwards Ronaldo had much better raw numbers and ratio.

Now, Ronaldo has 5 UCL trophies and Messi has 4. By looking at this you might think Messi is close to Ronaldo in UCL, which isn’t the case.

Ronaldo was top scorer in the competition 5/5 times he won it. Messi was top scorer 3/4 times and one season (14/15) he shared it with Ronaldo and Neymar.

In 2005/06, Messi only featured in 6 games in the UCL, and has 2 G/A, both vs Panthinaikos in a 5-9 group stage win.

Now, to the KO stage stats (most important part of the competition).

Cristiano Ronaldo is BY FAR the best player in UCL knockout stages.

He has the most goals, most assists, best minutes per G/A of all time. Notice how Messi is only third in minutes per G/A.

Some say that maybe Ronaldo scores a lot in the RO16 and doesn’t do much in the later,most crucial stages. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

This graphic shows that Ronaldo has more than double the goals of second-place Messi from QF to final.

Ronaldo has dragged his team to the next stage many times in UCL.

- hattrick vs Atletico Madrid after being 2-0 down in 2018/19
- hattrick vs Wolfsburg after being 2-0 down in 2015/16
- 5 goals vs Bayern in 2016/17
- 3 goals 1 assist vs Juventus in 2017/18.

Ronaldo has also unfortunately been let down by his teammates quite a lot even when he performs.

Stats while getting knocked out:

Ronaldo :

- 17 games
- 9 goals
- 1 assist
- 0.59 G+A/game

Messi :

- 20 games
- 2 goals
- 1 assist
- 0.15 G+A/game.

Hopefully I never see another Ronaldo any other player in the Champions League.

Huge thanks to @InvertedFWD for his help on this thread, give him a follow.

END OF THREAD.

For the people who say he’s a poacher.

Guess they can’t stand facts.