<P> At club level, with Messi and Ronaldo representing rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two players face each other at least twice every season in the world's most popular regular - season club game, El Clásico, which had a global audience of 400 million viewers in March 2014 . Off the field, they are the face of two rival sportswear manufacturers, Messi of Adidas and Ronaldo of Nike, which are also the respective kit suppliers of their national teams and the opposite for their clubs . The two highest paid players in football, Ronaldo and Messi are among the world's best paid sports stars: in combined income from salaries, bonuses and off - field earnings in 2016, Ronaldo was first earning $88 million and Messi was second with $81.4 million . They have the two biggest social media followings in the world among sportspeople with a combined 200 million Facebook fans by July 2016 . </P> <P> Born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Messi has spent his entire professional career at Spanish club Barcelona . His prodigious talents were spotted at an early age; he was discovered by Barcelona scout Josep Maria Minguella at the age of 13, and promptly moved to Spain where he progressed through Barcelona's youth academy La Masia, before making his senior debut on 16 October 2004 . At the age of 10, Messi was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency and upon joining Barcelona, the club paid for his treatment . Throughout the early years of his career, Messi had to endure the pressure of the tag New Maradona, comparisons furthered by scoring goals comparable to those Diego Maradona scored against England in the 1986 FIFA World Cup; on 19 April 2007, he scored a mazy dribble against Getafe which bore remarkable resemblance to that of Maradona's, before scoring his own version of the Hand of God on 9 June against rivals Espanyol . Maradona himself said of the comparison "I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi". </P> <P> Messi is the all - time top goalscorer in La Liga, has scored co-record seven UEFA Champions League hat - tricks, and holds a single Champions League game scoring record with five goals . On 17 April 2016, Messi scored his 500th professional career goal . </P> <P> While representing Argentina under - 20 at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, he scored a total of six goals, including two goals in the final to help Argentina win the tournament, and was awarded the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot as the tournament's best player and top scorer respectively . He made his senior debut two months later, coming on as a substitute, but was sent off for violent conduct minutes later . He has scored five goals in World Cups, with his first coming in 2006, while the other four were scored in 2014 as Argentina reached the final for the first time in 24 years, before losing to Germany . Messi was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament . During the 2007 Copa América, Messi scored in the quarter - finals and semi-finals to help Argentina reach the final . He was named the best young player of the tournament . In the 2015 Copa América semi-final, he assisted three goals to help Argentina reach another Copa América final, only to be defeated on penalties . Messi was reportedly offered the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament, but refused to accept it . In the Copa América Centenario the following season, he scored five goals and provided four assists, to become the all - time leading assists provider in Copa América history, and led Argentina to their third consecutive final in a major tournament, but missed his penalty in the resulting shoot - out, leading to a second consecutive defeat to Chile in the Copa América Final . Messi won an Olympic gold medal when he represented Argentina's Olympic team in the 2008 Olympic games, as Argentina successfully defended the title they won four years previously in 2004 . </P>

Who has more la liga goals messi or ronaldo