Cristiano Ronaldo has dethroned Lionel Messi as king of the Champions League - incredible scoring form (including 43 goals in just three years) has seen him seize old rival's crown
The argument over whether Cristiano Ronaldois better than Lionel Messi or vice-versa has raged for over a decade, but there is a stage where one is the undisputed victor.
In 2012, when Messi won his fourth-straight Ballon d'Or title, it seemed inevitable that the Barcelona star would finish his career far ahead of his arch-rival, who had just one Golden Ball to his name.
But Ronaldo has since claimed four of the last five awards in the ensuing years to leave them tied on five apiece. His recent dominance of football's most prestigious individual prize has been down to his success in the Champions League.
Anyone intent on winning the Ballon d'Or will know that finishing as top scorer in the Champions League will generally get you there. Each of the last 11 Ballon d'Or winners have been either top scorer or joint-top scorer in that season.
Perhaps that is why Ronaldo started to reserve his very best performances for the competition and showed no mercy against lesser opponents in the group stage. He netted four goals in an 8-0 win over Malmo in 2015 and, before that, collected group-stage hat-tricks against Ajax (2012), Galatasaray (2013) and Shakhtar Donetsk (2014).
However, what Ronaldo has achieved in the knockout stages goes far beyond what a flat-track bully could do. From his 121 goals in the Champions League, a total of 60 have come in the latter stages. He has scored 20 in the round of 16, 23 in the quarter-finals, 13 in the semi-finals and four in the final.
Ronaldo's rise to becoming a Champions League specialist has coincided with both Messi and Barcelona struggling to assert themselves like before in Europe. They have failed to make it to the semi-finals in each of the last three seasons with Messi scoring 23 goals.
Twenty three goals in three seasons is an impressive return by most measures but it pales in comparison to Ronaldo, who scored 43 goals in the same period.
The result is that Ronaldo bagged the significant milestone of reaching 100 goals in the Champions League before his rival, something he will always hold over him. He also looks likely to end his own career as top scorer as he now leads Messi by a significant 16 goals.
As Messi, 31, is over two years younger than Ronaldo, there is a good chance that he may ultimately overhaul him, especially as he still enjoys a better goalscoring rate in the Champions League (0.83 goals per game compared to 0.78).
What is certain is that neither of them will be sharing their positions in the exclusive centurion club any time soon. Karim Benzema (59 goals) and Robert Lewandowski (49) are the only players in the top 10 other than Ronaldo and Messi who are still playing in Europe.
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