El Clasico

So tonight brings us the big one; Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi , no sorry I mean Real Madrid v Barcelona. It is one of the games most famous, most watched and most fierce rivalries; I’m sure you all remember a pig head being thrown at Luís Figo in 2002.

In a matter of hours, these two giants will clash once again at the Santiago Bernabéu. Barcelona go into the game 8 points ahead of Madrid and with many thinking the title race is already over. If Real Madrid can snatch the all important win tonight then they will still have an outside chance of taking the La Liga title come the end of the season.

For a while now, there have been discussions all over the world about who the best player in the world actually is; Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Once again, tonight we will see perhaps the two best players in the world on the same pitch but who is the in-form player? 

Well perhaps some Castrol Edge stats can help us decide. Although neither player is an out and out striker, they are consistently amongst the goals. A list of the top players in terms of goals scored and assists made in the top 5 European leagues shows Messi and Ronaldo easily in front of anyone else. Messi and Ronaldo are almost equal at the top of the goals scored list (Messi having scored one more) but the most interesting fact is that Lionel Messi has more than double the assists that the Portuguese has. Obviously these two players aren’t the only ones scoring their teams goals so the assists could prove crucial in tonight’s game.

Both the players have made exactly the same amount of appearances in La Liga this season and have had almost exactly the same amount of time on the pitch. During this time Ronaldo has attempted a lot more shots than Messi but it’s Messi who has been the more clinical of the two; scoring roughly once in every four attempts.

So, everything is pointing at Messi being the in-form player going into tonight’s El Clasico and perhaps the stat which is most relevant for todays game is that Ronaldo has not made an assist or scored a goal when he has been playing against Lionel Messi at club level. Messi himself on the other hand has scored 2 and assisted 2 when playing against Ronaldo.