Lionel Messi Ranked Higher Than Cristiano Ronaldo In Initial ‘FIFA 21’ Ratings

The annual release of the highly anticipated “FIFA 21” of EA Sports just announced the ratings of the top 100 players in the game. The highest-ranked player in this year’s game is Lionel Messi, beating Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Barcelona star is ranked 93 overall, one mark shy from his last year’s rating as pointed out by Goal. Despite sparking news about a possible exit from his squad, Messi still remains as the top player in the game. With reports of internal turmoil in Camp Nou, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner was still able to beat Ronaldo individually in the video game form.

For the Juventus superstar, Ronaldo is ranked 92 overall. It’s interesting to note that Ronaldo has a higher shooting rating of 93 compared to Messi’s 92. Another key difference between the two is Ronaldo’s 77 physical attributes rating is much higher than Messi’s 65.

The two have constantly been compared to each other as the debate on who the best player in the world continues to be a hot topic as Messi and Ronaldo have had stellar careers. Throughout Messi’s stint with Barcelona, he’s appeared in 731 matches, netted 634 goals and 285 assists. For Ronaldo’s career, although he’s had stints with several clubs, he’s been consistently scoring no matter uniform he wears. In 850 total career appearances, he’s tallied 638 goals and 223 assists.

These two have also graced the cover photo of the video game on multiple occasions. From ‘FIFA 13” to “FIFA 16”, it was Messi who posed as the athlete. To match up with this, Ronaldo also accomplished a similar feat by being the frontman for “FIFA 18” and “FIFA 19”.

There’s no question that these two are still considered as the best in the world as they even outranked this year’s cover star, Kylian Mbappe. The Paris Saint-Germain striker is only ranked 90 and is tied with several other superstars with the same rating. Those who followed Messi and Ronaldo in the rankings are Robert Lewandowski, Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Jan Oblak who are all ranked at 91.

The release date of the game is scheduled to be on Oct 9, 2020.