is a Portuguese professional footballer for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team. He primarily plays as a forward, but has also been deployed as a winger and serves as captain for Portugal. In 2008, he won his first Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. Ronaldo then won the FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2013 and 2014. In 2016, he received his fourth Ballon d’Or, the most for a European player in the history of the award, and the inaugural Best FIFA Men’s Player. In 2015, Ronaldo scored his 500th senior career goal for club and country.

is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and regarded by many as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only player in history to win five FIFA Ballon d’Or awards, four of which he won consecutively, and the first to win three European Golden Shoes.[note 2] With Barcelona he has won eight La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles, and four Copas del Rey, among other trophies. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga (347), a La Liga season (50), a club football season in Europe (73) and a calendar year (91), as well as those for most assists made in La Liga (137) and the Copa América (11). He has scored over 500 senior career goals for club and country.