Although Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the best goal-scorers in football history, one man has surpassed them both to the top spot in the list of goals-per-game ratios in the twenty-first century.
The international players from Portugal and Argentina have shared 13 Ballon d’Or between them over the previous 20 years, and their on-field achievements have cemented their places in history.
Messi joined Barcelona’s junior team, where he went on to win nine La Liga titles and four Champions League crowns before leaving in 2021.
The forward joined Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer (MLS) last summer after playing for PSG for two seasons in France. He is still there as of right now.
Before joining Manchester United in 2003 for a reported £12 million, Ronaldo made his debut with Sporting CP. At Old Trafford, he went on to win three Premier League titles and the Champions League.
2009 saw the then-world record £80 million transfer to Real Madrid, where the Portuguese earned two La Liga titles and four more Champions League trophies in over ten years at the Santiago Bernabeu.
After winning two Serie A titles in three years during his first time at Juventus, Ronaldo went on to play for United again before ending his career at the age of 39 with Al Nassr of the Saudi Pro League.
Which one player has a better G/A ratio than Messi and Ronaldo?
Now that a list of players’ goals-per-game ratios from the twenty-first century has surfaced online, neither Messi nor Ronaldo is at the top of it.
After 567 goals in 980 games, retired Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic is ranked 10th with a ratio of 0.58, while former Barcelona and Liverpool forward Luis Suarez is ranked ninth with a ratio of 0.60 following 576 goals in 968 games.
Despite having the same 0.60 ratio as Suarez, Ruud van Nistelrooy is ranked ninth with 277 goals in 463 appearances.
With 440 goals in 719 games, Neymar is ranked seventh with a ratio of 0.61, while Harry Kane of Bayern Munich is ranked sixth with a marginally better number of 0.63 after 407 goals in 644 professional games.
Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona, who has scored goals on 654 occasions in 928 games, rounds out the top five with a score of 0.70.
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Kylian Mbappe, the new striker for Real Madrid, is fourth with 0.72 after 332 goals in 462 games.
With a ratio of 0.73 and 987 goals in 1233 games, Ronaldo is ranked third on the list. Messi, on the other hand, has a figure of 0.78 and 838 goals in 1069 games, placing him in second place.
Erling Haaland, the goal machine for Manchester City, who has scored 257 goals in just 315 games over his professional career, is the man to secure first place. Haaland has a goals-to-games ratio of 0.82.
