Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi's stats at age 25 compared | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi can be considered football royalty, can’t they? The two shared a rivalry so enticing that fans and pundits alike often find themselves embroiled in the ‘Who’s the GOAT?’ conversation. A natter that could last for hours with arguments surrounding goals, trophies and big moments thrown around.

But with the duo now enjoying their twilight years in continents other than Europe, it begs the question: who is in line to take over the torch? Up step Paris Saint-Germain ace Kylian Mbappé. Arguably the brightest player in world football as things stand, the concoction of his blistering pace and high footballing IQ is a defender’s worst nightmare.

His goalscoring return is also a cause for optimism, with him already hitting unfathomable numbers in France’s top division. Having turned 25 years of age, the world is genuinely Mbappé’s oyster. A generational talent, he could become one of the sport’s finest-ever assets should his career not take a turn for the worse and derail.

While his tender age may come as a shock given how captivated fans are by his raw talent, it just goes to show how special the former Monaco marksman is. Amid GIVEMESPORT’s glittering assessment of the 25-year-old, how do his statistics stack up against Ronaldo and Messi when they were both of the same age? Who – out of the trio – played the most? Who had found the back of the net the most times? And most importantly, who boasted the best trophy cabinet? Find out below, per statistics provided by Planet Football...

Appearances

In terms of appearances, there is not much to split the trio, though former Manchester United ace Ronaldo does come up trumps – albeit by just five appearances. Ronaldo, commonly known as Mr. Champions League, had played 360 club games by the time he reached 25, with an extra 47 coming for his national team, Portugal.

Narrowly behind are Mbappé and Messi, who racked up 346 and 355 appearances, respectively, by the age point of 25. Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi adorned the fabled red and blue of Barcelona in the early stages of his career, making his debut aged 17, while Mbappé has enjoyed stints at both PSG and Monaco since the summer of 2017.

The youngster does come out on top in terms of international caps, however, with 75. Although Ronaldo does boast - often loudly and proudly - the most appearances on the international stage as things stand, the majority of them arrived later down the line, while the same can be said for Messi, who had played 44 out of his 180 caps for his native Argentina, aged 25. Mbappé has sharply emerged as France’s biggest threat and will, most likely, overtake Ronaldo in years to come for showing out the most times for their respective countries.

Goal contributions

Quite shockingly, Mbappé – at the age of 25 - has more goals and assists than both Messi and Ronaldo did at the same age. The aforementioned pairing managed to rack up eye-catching numbers in the Premier League and La Liga, however, while all of Mbappé’s goalscoring has been done in Ligue 1 – a division not known for its competitive nature. An interesting comparison nonetheless, the dazzling Frenchman has scored 309 goals altogether, which dwarfs that of Ronaldo, who only managed 160 by the time he had reached 25. Messi, for good measure, had scored 279.

While Messi has long been known as the assist king, his tally at 25 is beaten – relatively comfortably at that – by Mbappé, who has provided his teammates on an impressive 148 occasions thus far. Messi was 27 behind on 121, while Ronaldo was – evidently – more focused on scoring goals considering he had only set up a teammate 70 times before reaching the same age as Mbappé at this current moment in time.

Ranked as the fourth-best footballer of 2023, Mbappé also boasts a better minutes-per-goal ratio, with one goal slotted home every 103.3 minutes. Astonishing numbers. For reference: Ronaldo scored once every 187.5 minutes, while Messi wasn’t far behind his former PSG teammate by finding the back of the net once every 111.5 minutes.

In fact, his goal scoring-focused tallies are only bettered by Messi on one occasion – with that being goals in a Champions League setting. The talismanic Inter Miami forward had racked up seven more than Mbappé’s 43 strikes, while Ronaldo was still getting up to speed with European football, it seems. The former Real Madrid ace had only 21 goals to his name by 25 years of age.

Goal type

Perhaps the most damning statistic of them all is that, during the embryonic stages of his career, Mbappe has failed to convert a free-kick. Ronaldo and Messi were much more potent from a free-kick situation before they struck 25 years of age, with the former notching 17, while the latter had added seven to his well-stacked CV.

While scoring from dead ball situations from outside the box may not be his forte, he has scored from 12 yards out like it’s going out of fashion – he has totted up 38 penalties so far. In comparison, Ronaldo had only managed 20 by that point, while Messi was just four shy of Mbappé’s tally with 34. In fairness, Ronaldo joined a star-studded Red Devils squad who – understandably – were not willing to give over their penalty duties to a fresh-faced Portuguese lad.

Trophies

In his illustrious career thus far, both the Champions League and Ballon d’Or have avoided the Frenchman’s grasp – two prizes he’ll be yearning for in due course. To put things into perspective, Messi already had three Ballon d’Ors and three Champions League medals in his cabinet by the age of 25, while Ronaldo had racked up one of each.

Mbappé can count himself lucky that he is currently playing in a lesser-competitive league, given that he pips both players deemed as football royalty in terms of domestic leagues won by 25, with his six titles trumping that of Messi (five) and Ronaldo (three).

The 25-year-old is also lucky enough to have reached the pinnacle of international football by getting his hands on some international silverware with one UEFA Nations League trophy and a World Cup under his belt. In the sorry case of Messi and Ronaldo, they had to wait until later in their respective careers to enjoy success internationally.