Why Cristiano Ronaldo is the best and Lionel Messi is the worst | OneFootball

If there’s one thing this World Cup could do without, it’s the tedious Lionel Messi v Cristiano Ronaldo debate rearing its ugly head.

But sadly, it’s almost unavoidable at the moment, especially in light of a rather extraordinary statistic.

According to Opta, Ronaldo has so far posted the best expected goals differential at the 2018 World Cup, while Messi is responsible for the worst.

Don’t understand that mumbo jumbo? Allow us to explain.

Firstly, for the unenlightened among us, expected goals (or xG) is a metric used to determine how many goals should theoretically have been scored in a particular match by evaluating the chances of a shot resulting in a goal.

On Friday night, Ronaldo scored three times from just four shots on goal against Spain, meaning his xG was just 2.03 – giving him a differential of 0.97 (3 – 2.03 = 0.97).

Messi, on the other hand, took 11 shots in Argentina’s 1-1 draw with Iceland without finding the net. The Barcelona man was expected to produce 1.21 goals from those 11 shots, meaning his differential is -1.21 – the worst at the tournament so far.

So that settles it then. Ronaldo is better than Messi, and we can finally move on with our lives.

And if the above still doesn’t mean anything to you, you’re clearly not a massive nerd, unlike us.