Leo Messi has scored fewer goals for Argentina than Cristiano Ronaldo with Portugal. But have Messi's 70 goals come against stronger opposition?
Recently a graph of Diario AS goes viral on the Internet, which shows Messi scored 56 goals against top-50 nations before his 70th goal against Uruguay, while 99-goal Ronaldo has only 28 goals.
We've also cited the stats in a previous article. But as far as we have discovered, based on current FIFA Rankings, it's NOT TRUE!
Here is the breakdown:
LEO MESSI (70 GOALS)
5 - Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay,
4 - Venezuela, Ecuador
3 - Colombia, Chile, Switzerland, Bolivia, Nigeria, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Guatemala
2 - Spain, Croatia, Algeria, Hong Kong, Nicaragua,
1 - France, Germany, Portugal, Peru, Iran, USA, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia
CRISTIANO RONALDO (99 GOALS)
7 - Lithuania
5 - Andorra, Armenia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Sweden
4 - Estonia, Faro Islands, Hungary, Netherlands
3 - Belgium, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland
2 - Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Cameroon, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Kazakstan, Saudí Arabia
1 - Argentina, Croatia, Ecuador, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, Iran, Morocco, New Zealand, North Korea, Panama, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Wales.
Here's the latest FIFA Rankings
We can see:
Messi has 48 goals against top-50 nations
These victims are: Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Switzerland，Nigeria, Mexico, Spain, Croatia, Algeria, France, Germany, Portugal, Peru, Iran, USA, Bosnia and Serbia;
While Ronaldo scores 47 goals against top-50 nations
They are: Sweden, Hungary, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Argentina, Croatia, Iceland, Iran, Morocco, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Wales;
Goals vs Top-50 nations
Messi: 48/70 (68,57%)
Ronaldo: 47/99 (47,47%)
We've noticed the previous news cited from Diario AS may have caused problems between die-hard Messi and Ronaldo fans, for which we hereby make our sincere apologies.
We will continue working hard to deliver first-hand and authentic football news to all AFers from all around the world.