Comparing Messi and Ronaldo’s stats as 38-year-olds – who’s been better at that age? | OneFootball

Lionel Messi broke the World Cup scoring record two days before his 39th birthday – but was his record as a 38-year-old better than Cristiano Ronaldo‘s at the same age?

Ronaldo is a couple of years older than Messi, having turned 39 in February 2024, and his 38th year saw him score 53 goals for Al-Nassr and Portugal.

It was also marked by a series of increasingly disappointing performances at Euro 2024, scoreless in five matches as Portugal exited in the quarter-finals.

Messi has scored goals for fun at club level as a 38-year-old, but has also shown up for Argentina too. He scored five times in their opening World Cup matches against Algeria and Austria as the defending champions made a strong start to their title defence.

“There are no words for Leo. There’s no point comparing him because he’s alone at the top,” Lisandro Martinez said after Messi netted twice against Austria.

“All that’s left is to enjoy him. I’m incredibly proud to have him by my side and for him to be Argentine. We have to appreciate him.”

For his part, Messi revealed he is focused more on enjoying his game rather than chasing statistics.

“I don’t like statistics; today everything is about that,” Messi said in a 2025 interview. “I like to be very involved in the game.

“There were years when we won everything: reaching the Copa América final with the national team, winning the Champions League with Barcelona.

“It’s difficult. In 2012, I scored around 91 goals. I don’t play for that, I never cared about it.

“It wasn’t in my mind to make an assist just to break a record or surpass someone else. It’s hard to choose one year; thankfully I’ve had many very good ones.”

Regardless of his personal taste, we’ve delved into the numbers and compared how Messi’s stats at the age of 38 compare to Ronaldo’s.