Can Messi catch Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League record?

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Wednesday night saw Lionel Messi glide onto 100 Champions League goals from just his 123rd outing in the competition, edging him closer to Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally.

As the all-time record goalscorer in European competition history, the Real Madrid star is the one to beat and boasts 117 strikes in 148 games.

The question must be asked then, can Messi catch Ronaldo?

The stats show just how closely the duo’s careers have run parallel to eachother, with 60 goals apiece in the Champions League group stages.

Messi is ahead by four goals when it comes to the last-16 but it is in the following three rounds that Ronaldo presses ahead, possessing double the number of strikes in the quarter-finals and over triple the Barcelona man’s semi-final total.

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Messi vs Ronaldo broken down by stage
Groups: 1. Messi (60 goals) Cristiano Ronaldo (60 goals)

Last-16: 2. Messi (24 goals) Cristiano Ronaldo (20 goals)

Quarter-finals: 3. Messi (10 goals) Cristiano Ronaldo (20 goals)

Semi-finals: 4. Messi (4 goals) Cristiano Ronaldo (13 goals)

Final: 5. Messi (2 goals) Cristiano Ronaldo (4 goals)

What is likely to play in the Argentine’s favour is his relative youth. He is three years younger than his rival and has a goal for every 101.4 minutes of Champions League action to the 122 minutes that Ronaldo takes per success.Thus this battle for supremacy is set to go down right to the very end of Messi and Ronaldo’s careers.

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