Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, who is more consistent in scoring goals? The evidence from CFM exploratory analysis

TL;DR

This study compares the goal-scoring consistency of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi over 17 years using CFM analysis across various scoring methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of CFM exploratory analysis to evaluate and compare the long-term consistency of two football legends.

Findings

Ronaldo and Messi have similar goal-scoring consistency over 17 years.

Both players maintain high reliability in scoring across different methods.

The analysis confirms their status as highly consistent and talented players.

Abstract

The rivalry between two football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has always been a subject of extensive discussion. This study aimed to compare the level of consistency between the two players in scoring goals through 6 ways: right-footed kicks, left-footed kicks, penalty kicks, direct free kicks, long-range kicks, and headers. The data analyzed was the duration of time (minutes) each player took to score a goal in every match they played. The data was obtained from a football website called Transfermarkt.com. Competing Failure Modes (CFM) was used to measure the reliability of the two players in scoring goals based on those various ways. The results of CFM exploratory analysis showed that Ronaldo and Messi had the same level of consistency in scoring goals for more than 17 years of their professional football career. Both have been among most talented players in the modern football era with individual and team achievements that are far above other footballers around the world.