[ad_1]
They were unable to go head-to-head for the first time in two years due to the coronavirus, but the rivalry between Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is a space-time continuum. His perpetual race for the top spot continues and writes a chapter in every scenario that not even the health crisis has been able to stop. In the Portuguese backyard, the Barça captain scored and won. A goal that allowed him to close the gap in this particular post-pandemic duel. And draw a new trend.
The fact is that in the imagination of the fans, the Portuguese is the best penalty taker. The data confirms this, as to date, its success rate is 84.3% after 129 of 153 attempts have been scored. The Argentine, for his part, has a score of 81.7 percent after converting 94 out of 115. However, these percentages have changed since the pandemic: Cristiano had 0.4 points more before the break (84.7 percent), Messi has raised a point (Before it was 80.7 percent).
And what is more, Messi had not taken a penalty in an official match since February 16, 2019. Since then, he has accumulated 12 consecutive penalties without missing a single (13 counting a friendly against Uruguay). On the way, one did miss that Alisson stopped in a friendly between Brazil and Argentina, although Leo scored on the rebound. Further, in 2020 it has converted all seven.
In that time, Cristiano has missed three penalties: against Chievo (January 21, 2019), against Sampdoria in Serie A, and against Milan in the semifinals of the Coppa Italia, the last two only a month and a half apart. He has scored one more than Messi in 2020 (eight), but has only scored two in a row (Lyon and Rome).
Since the current season started, Cristiano has been more destructive than Messi: 17-11 is the current goal count. A fight in which the Barcelona player has been coming back especially well from the penalty spot. 55% of his goals since March (a total of six) have come from penalties. And specifically, in the 20-21 season, Messi has not managed to score in another way. Except for the two in the summer friendly against Girona, Rosario’s last goal was the standout against Napoli in the Champions League.
Compilation of all matches, clubs and national teams, the Argentine has proven to be infallible with penalties, six out of six. The Portuguese, however, has not had the same precision, since he missed two of the nine he took.
The seven he made have made up 41% of all his goals in football after a pandemic, 15 with Juventus and the other two representing their country. Interestingly, in the last game he scored, against Rome, He did it both from the open field and from the penalty spot.
So the general averages leave Cristiano Ronaldo in a better position, whose average per 90 minutes is 0.92 after 1668 minutes of play. Messi, on the other hand, stands at 0.5 after his eleven goals in the 1,980 minutes he has played for Barça and Argentina.
Despite the streak of infallibility that the Barça captain has shown in recent weeks, he is still a long way from Cristiano in his personal battle for penalties, specifically 35 goals away.
[ad_2]
