Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Ozil: Who has the most assists in the 21st century? | OneFootball

When it comes to the sweet art of goalscoring, Cristiano Ronaldo is the master.

No player in the history of men’s professional football has rippled the back of the net more times than the Manchester United superstar.

At the time of writing, Ronaldo has scored a whopping 815 goals for club and country, an average of 43 per season.

Those numbers are just ridiculous and what makes the Portuguese’s career even more extraordinary is the number of assists he’s recorded while also scoring for fun.

Many think Ronaldo is selfish and obsessed with goals, but the truth is he’s a bona fide assist machine.

Think we’re going a bit overboard? Well, we’re not, as the folks over at PopFoot have revealed that Ronaldo ranks second in terms of assisting teammates in the 21st century thus far.

Lionel Messi is the only man ahead of him…

The 40 players with the most assists in the 21st century

40. Dimitri Payet – 153 assists

39. Juan Roman Riquelme – 156 assists

38. Francesco Totti – 158 assists

37. Alexis Sanchez – 162 assists

36. Kaka – 162 assists

35. Mbark Boussoufa – 162 assists

34. Robinho – 163 assists

33. Robert Lewandowski – 165 assists

32. Eden Hazard – 165 assists

31. Arjen Robben – 165 assists

30. Wesley Sneijder – 165 assists

29. Ronaldinho – 165 assists

28. Mathieu Valbuena – 166 assists

27. Ricardo Quaresma – 171 assists

26. Christian Eriksen – 171 assists

25. Andres Iniesta – 172 assists

24. Frank Lampard – 173 assists

23. David Beckham – 174 assists

22. Wayne Rooney – 175 assists

21. Steven Gerrard – 175 assists

20. Thierry Henry – 185 assists

19. Ryan Giggs – 186 assists

18. Hulk – 189 assists

17. Franck Ribery – 196 assists

16. Karim Benzema – 202 assists

15. Dani Alves – 203 assists

14. David Silva – 203 assists

13. Xavi Hernandez – 207 assists

12. Dries Mertens – 212 assists

11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 221 assists

10. Kevin De Bruyne – 222 assists

9. Cesc Fabregas – 230 assists

8. Luis Suarez – 232 assists

7. Thomas Muller – 232 assists

6. Neymar – 233 assists

5. Dusan Tadic – 236 assists

4. Mesut Ozil – 240 assists

3. Angel Di Maria – 252 assists

2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 273 assists

Ronaldo’s playmaking does not get the respect it deserves.

But while his haul of 273 assists is hugely impressive, it pales in comparison to Messi – who’s the only player in the 300+ bracket.

However, the little genius doesn’t possess the best assists-per-game ratio in the top 40.

That honour belongs to De Bruyne, who is currently averaging 0.36 assists-per-game for club and country.