Luckily for us soccer fans, we have been blessed with two of the best players of all time during this current generation of soccer stars. Messi and Ronaldo are arguably the two most famous athletes, or even celebrities, in the world right now. Sure, their name may not carry the same weight as LeBron James, Tom Brady, or Tiger Woods in America, but on an international level, these two superstars are unrivaled by any athlete. Cristiano Ronaldo is ranked number 1 on ESPN’s Fame 100 and Business Insider with Messi sitting pretty at number 3 on these two lists. While Messi may rank behind Ronaldo on these two lists, his jersey sales are the highest for any jersey in the world. Between them, they have won the last three Champions Leagues, last 8 Ballon D’or awards for world soccer player of the year, and have made even the toughest of defenses nervous whenever faced with the proposition of facing either of these giants. Having two such influential figures competing at the same time, and so often during head-to-head matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid, it is impossible to avoid the argument of who is the better player, with one such argument turning into a fatal stabbing just this past March. It’s a serious topic of conversation when you take the two most idolized figures of the most popular sport in the world and compare them against one another. The great thing about this argument is that it may never really be settled since the two are consistently so close to each other, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion on the matter. And while it may come as a surprise to some people, I firmly believe that Cristiano Ronaldo is a better player than Messi and here are the four reasons why:

1. He’s proven himself on multiple teams in different leagues – Cristiano Ronaldo started his career at Manchester United where he burst on the scene while Manchester dominated the Premier League, winning the Champions League, becoming the top goal scorer in Europe, and going on to become the most expensive transfer at that time. He went to Real Madrid, won another two champions leagues, dominated European scoring, won La Liga and grew to be the world idol he is today. Messi, on the other hand, has only played for Barcelona his entire career. While there is nothing wrong with only playing for one team, something has to be said for the ability to move to a different league and continue to dominate at such a high level that Ronaldo has done. Very few players have won the Champions League with two different teams, but Ronaldo has managed to do just that. There are also many top players, such as Kaka and Torres, who fail to continue their form at new teams or new divisions. Not Ronaldo.
2. He’s more valuable to his teams than Messi – If Barcelona was to lose Messi for half the season, they would be just fine. If Real Madrid were to lose Ronaldo, their primary creative force would completely disappear and you can be certain the team would suffer a dip in form. Same goes for the international stage: Argentina would still be a top five team without Messi, but Ronaldo turns a pitiful Portugal team into one of the top 10 ranks teams by FIFA, currently. Without Ronaldo, it would be tough to believe that Portugal could have qualified for the Euros and would be far from the world threat that they currently are. Ronaldo performs magnificently for Portugal, even putting in a world-changing performance to get Portugal to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, whereas Messi can’t take one of the best teams in the world to World Cup glory. Messi fails to show up for Argentina in the big games, whereas Ronaldo takes center stage like a man possessed. Ronaldo is by far the best Portuguese player but Messi is arguably only the second best Argentinian behind Maradona.
3. Ronaldo has had success without the Barcelona midfield – To question whether Messi has had the best supporting cast of all time would almost be considered blasphemous. Throughout almost his entire career at Barcelona, Messi has had the immortal Xavi and Iniesta behind him in midfield supporting his play and now currently has Neymar and Suarez. Combine that with the fact that he has also played with Henry, Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimović, and many other legends and the argument can be made that any player can be made to look good. Heck, I could score 30 goals a season with Xavi and Iniesta supporting me. Even with Argentina he has had an exceptional supporting cast of Di Maria, Mascherano, Higuain and Aguero. While Modric, Bale, Ozil, Kroos, and Xavi Alonso are all great players, they hardly compare to the support Messi has had at Barcelona and it’s not even worth attempting to compare the Argentina support squad to that of Portugal, especially recently. Ronaldo has emulated, and sometimes bettered Messi’s output without the same level of support that Messi has had. The only reason Messi has more assists is because he has more goal-scorers to pass to. Suarez and Neymar are miles better than Benzema, the Real Madrid center forward.
4. Ronaldo is a complete player -- Messi is an amazing talent that we are lucky to witness, with amazing foot-skills, balance, speed, and goal-scoring ability, but Ronaldo is more the complete player. Ronaldo has consistently outscored Messi for the past three seasons despite being older, playing on the wing, and playing fewer games. Messi is an out and out center forward whereas Ronaldo is normally utilized on the wing, yet still has more offensive productivity for club and country. He has scored more goals per minute in La Liga than Messi has and has become invaluable to his team. Some may argue his foot skills are better, he is in much better physical condition meaning he is built to play better for longer, has a better goal-scoring ability especially from outside the box, and is a faster player in regards to sprint speed. He is more versatile because he is able to play on any wing side, as a center striker, or even as an attack mid. While I’m sure Messi could do all those positions, I don’t think he would perform as well as Ronaldo outside of his natural position.

Messi is still a great player that has blessed the world of soccer with his brilliance, but when comparing the two players, I would much rather chose Ronaldo to be on my team than Messi if I were a coach. Until Messi performs for a team outside Barcelona, I just can’t say he’s better than Ronaldo.