The numbers speak for themselves: Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the top scorer in the history of soccer, but Lionel Messi is hot on his heels. The race between these two legends is sure to continue for years to come.
One scores a goal, the other two. And so, match after match. When are they going to stop? When will they be satisfied? Questions without answers… And there are no longer statistics that support the Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo debate to be the top scorer in the history of soccer, a race that gives no respite, so much to so much, celebration to celebration, record to record.
The Argentine, in Inter Miami and the Argentine National Team, at full speed. The Portuguese, in Al Nassr and his national team, on fire. In fact, Leo scored another goal in his club vs. Toronto and… Who is number one?
How many goals does Cristiano Ronaldo have?
Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Al Hilal and stretched even further his considerable advantage over the Argentine. From his beginnings at Sporting Lisbon to his current stage at Al-Nassr, he has accumulated an impressive total of 931 goals in 1,270 games throughout 21 years of professional career. His last annotations were against Al Hilal, on April 4, for the Saudi Pro League, a match in which he scored a double – the second from a penalty.
How many Goals Does Lionel Messi have?
In the past 2024, Messi accumulated 29 goals between Major League Soccer, the Champions Cup and the Argentine National Team. Now, in 2025, he began his journey with Inter Miami and preseason friendlies. In total he has 856 goals in 1,095 matches. His last goal was scored against Toronto, on April 6, for the MLS.
In this breakdown, his goals in Barcelona (672), PSG (32), Inter Miami (40) and Senior National Team (112) are counted, but those of Barcelona B (6), Olympic Games (2) and Sub 20 (11) are not taken into account.
Top scorers in history
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 931 goals
- Lionel Messi (Argentina): 856 goals
- Josef Bican (Austria): 805 goals
- Romario (Brazil): 772 goals
- Pelé (Brazil): 757 goals
The race continues
With this panorama, Cristiano Ronaldo has an advantage of 75 goals, but Messi has played 175 fewer games. During their periods in the Old Continent, both number 7 and number 10 have played a fairly similar average number of games per season, between 50 and 60. However, the captain of the Portuguese national team has had two more years of career. And, although it would seem that his retirement is not around the corner, Leo could take advantage of a few more years.
