Liverpool director of research settles Messi v Ronaldo GOAT debate using science | OneFootball

The debate between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on who should be crowned as the Greatest Of All Time has raged on for years.

From football pundits to mates sitting in a pub garden, the subject has frequently been known to split opinion.

It doesn't help that two illustrious forwards are basically neck and neck on goals scored, Ballon d’Or and Golden Shoe awards.

Their rivalry lit up Spanish football with the fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid – understandably – opting for their club’s star men at the time.

Messi and Ronaldo are the only two footballers in the sport’s history to have scored more than 800 goals and have amassed 76 major trophies between them.

With that in mind, both men have strong claims to be considered the GOAT.

But has Ian Graham, Liverpool’s outgoing director of research, settled the debate once and for all?

Using sophisticated models to evaluate their broader contribution to their team’s success, Graham claimed one was ‘clearly superior’ to the other.

Dr. Ian Graham’s Messi v Ronaldo verdict

Graham – employed at Anfield since 2012 – completed a PhD in theoretical physics at Cambridge and has been described as being at the forefront of the football data revolution.

So, it’s fair to say he knows what he’s talking about.

“It’s Messi. The difference is that Messi is also a world-class attacking midfielder,” he said, during a speech at the Cheltenham Science Festival, per The Guardian.

“The chances he creates for his teammates are an order of magnitude greater than Ronaldo. Messi does two jobs brilliantly. Ronaldo does one job brilliantly. That’s the difference.”

Graham’s claims are based on their overall team contribution, rather than purely focusing on their individual output.

Although, it’s fair to say they have both lapped up their fair share of praise for the monstrous amount of goals the duo have managed to rack up.

Who is the best player in Europe right now according to science?

Not only has Graham given his two cents on the ever-growing debate of who is football’s greatest player of all time, but he has also shared his unmatched knowledge of who is leading the game at this current moment.

Messi’s former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe was the other to be showered with compliments as Graham made a definitive claim about the talented Frenchman.

“Any statistical model will tell you that Kylian Mbappe is the best player in Europe at the moment,” he said. “But unfortunately, financially, he’s out of Liverpool’s league. We’re looking for the best-performing players per pound.”

Mbappe scored 29 goals in 34 Ligue 1 appearances this season as PSG won their second straight domestic crown.

Speaking after signing a new contract in the French capital last summer, Mbappe admitted that he had held informal talks with Liverpool over a potential move earlier in his career.

Per The Independent, the 24-year-old revealed: “We talked a little bit, but not too much. We talked a little bit.

“I talked to Liverpool because it’s the favourite club of my mum, my mum loves Liverpool. I don’t know why, you will have to ask her.

“It’s a good club and we met them five years ago. When I was in Monaco I met them. It’s a big club.”