Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been the source of debate for the last 15 years: who is the best player in the world of football?
The Argentine and Portuguese forwards are two of the best ever and not only have they played the game at the same time, but they also played in the same league for nine years, when Ronaldo was at Juventus.
Between them, they have won 11 Ballons d’Or (Messi six, Ronaldo five) and 10 Golden Shoes (Messi six, Ronaldo four).
The debate has raged on for over a decade but now, thanks to science and technology, it can finally come to an end, with the proof that Messi is better than Ronaldo.
A study by ‘SciSports’ in collaboration with the Universidad Católica in Leuven, Belgium, has revealed that Barcelona’s Messi is twice as good the Juventus man, formerly of Real Madrid.
“The value of a player is often determined by goals and assists,” said professor Jesse Davis, who worked on the study.
“A goal is a rare event, however, because an average of 1,600 actions are estimated to occur in a match.
“Our model looks at each action — shots, passes, dribbles, tackles — and calculates its value.” Continue reading