After 101 days, the Champions League returns. The group stage of the top clubs tournament starts with bright matches and great interest.

The big news is nothing but his absence Cristiano Ronaldo from the organization. The Portuguese superstar will not be competing in European football parlors after the age of 19. Manchester United finished sixth last season and will play in the Europa League.

The 37-year-old football player has expressed a desire to leave, as the Champions League is a great motivation for him. Let’s not forget that he is the footballer with the most appearances, the most goals and the most assists in the competition. Despite the pressure and after the Portuguese case became a series of the summer, no team participating in the Champions League was able to submit an offer to acquire him.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s representative even offered to release him from custody. Manchester Unitedbut would eventually remain with the club. Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence from the Champions League gives Lionel Messi a golden opportunity.

The Argentine is 15 goals ahead of the Portuguese, and this year he will have the opportunity to approach or even surpass him in the goalscoring table. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 140 goals in 183 matches and Messi follows him with 125 goals in 156 matches in the tournament.

Despite making his competitive debut 14 months after Cristiano Ronaldo, the Argentine hit a grenade earlier. OUR Messi scored his first goal in the Champions League group stage in the 2005–2006 season and 5–0 against Panathinaikos. He was 18 at the time and made his first appearance in a Barcelona shirt.

It took Cristiano Ronaldo 26 matches to score a goal for the first time in the tournament. In particular, in April 2007, the Portuguese scored in the quarter-finals against Roma with a score of 7:1. The games of the two football players can be envied, as they score almost a goal per game. Lionel Messi scores 0.80 goals per match and Cristiano Ronaldo scores 0.77 goals per match.

From the 2007-2008 season to the 2016-2017 season, when they both won five Ballon d’Ors, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scored 5.5% of the total goals scored in the Champions League. The Portuguese superstar scored in double figures in seven seasons and holds the record for scoring with 17 goals in the 2013-2014 season. Messi, on the other hand, caught double-digit goals in five seasons with a record 14 goals in 2011-2012.

The two footballers have met each other in the Champions League six times. They last met in a top club competition in December 2020, when Juventus beat Barcelona 3-0 at Camp Nou. Then Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals from the penalty spot.

The Champions League draw placed Paris Saint-Germain in the same group as Juventus, Benfica and Maccabi Haifa. At the start of the season in France, Messi scored three goals and provided six assists, showing that he is in good shape.

The big bet for him and the Paris team is winning the Champions League. Last year’s exclusion from Real Madrid cost the team from the French capital, which again underwent a radical change this summer.

“Counter” Messi – Ronaldo in the Champions League

• Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal in the competition on 18 April 2017 against Bayern Munich. On March 14, 2018, Messi scored 100 goals against Chelsea.
• Messi, along with Karim Benzema, scored in the tournament for 17 consecutive seasons. Cristiano scored 16 consecutive seasons.
• Both have 8 hat-tricks.
• Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to score in three Champions League finals.
• Cristiano Ronaldo’s 10 goals against Juventus is the most goals ever scored by a football player against one team.
• It took Messi 123 games to score 100 goals in the tournament, while Ronaldo took 144.

Data taken from theanalyst.com and uefa.com.