At the same age in 2024, was there anyone better than Messi and Ronaldo?

Lamine Yamal has had a great 2024, but does it compare to what Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo did when they were his age?

This year marked the end of the age of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Since 2003, neither player was up for the Ballon d’Or for the first time.

And everyone knows that the Ballon d’Or vote is the only way to really keep soccer history alive. Of course, it’s not that. Not at all. Dani Carvajal in fourth place? Really? In spite of its flaws, the award is the only reliable record we have of the sport’s past.

But the time of Messi and Ronaldo is over now. Ronaldo last finished in the top three for the Ballon d’Or in 2019.

Messi won the award last year, but he hasn’t made a big effect at the highest level since the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar in December 2022.

We have spent most of the last 20 years comparing Messi and Ronaldo to each other. Now it’s time to look back and compare everyone else to Messi and Ronaldo.

That’s why we made the “Messi-Ronaldo Line.” It’s the rate of goals and helpers that the two players have had without taking a penalty at every age in their careers.

We’ll begin at age 17, when both of them played their first professional game, and end at age 35, when Messi’s last season in Europe.

Today, we’re going to look back at 2024 in Europe’s “Big Five” top leagues through Christmas Day. We can do it again at the end of the season. Messi and Ronaldo’s data comes from their domestic seasons, which were defined by their ages at the start of the season.

We’re judging current players based on their ages now and how well they did in their domestic seasons all of 2024. To qualify, you need to play for at least 1,500 minutes. These two players have been the best this year, no matter what age. Let’s find out.