It's funny how people keep saying that ronaldo is a machine, has a body of a 18 year old teenager, scores anywhere and from everywhere, it's the superman, a god and bla bla bla bla. Looking at some stats I saw the opposite:
2017/2018 season:
Messi - 54 apps, 18 assists, 45 goals - goals + assists = 63
Ronaldo - 44 apps, 8 assists, 44 goals - goals + assists = 52
2018 only:
Messi - 34 apps, 14 assists, 30 goals - goals + assists = 44
Ronaldo - 29 apps, 6 assists, 34 goals - goals + assists = 40
I wanted more so I did a little research since 09/10 season (when Ronaldo started for Madrid) and I found this:
Since season 09/10, Messi played more games than Ronaldo in 7 seasons out of 9. Still people see Messi as an old papa while Ronaldo is a physical monster.
Since season 09/10, Messi scored more than Ronaldo in 5 seasons out of 9 and one of them they both finished with the same number of goals. Again, in the eyes of the Media, Ronaldo is a scoring machine that can score with head, both feet and it's more "complete" than Messi. Still he didn't score more than Messi most of the times.
To conclude, Messi beat Ronaldo in number of assists in 9 seasons out of 9. Ouch.
So, Messi plays more, scores more, assists more, but the Media and a lot of fans are convinced that Ronaldo is a beast, the complete player, the perfect attacker, the one to look when things are going bad.
See? You can make a bad thing turn into a good one simply by manipulating the media and the fans. All that bullshit about Ronaldo having 7% body fat and being stronger than everyone and bla bla bla, and still he's barely reaching 45 games/season. How can you be a superman if you rest more than any player in the world? Add to the fact that the "scoring machine" gives his all in 20/25 games per season (UCL games + La Liga important games) and it's enough for his agents and fans to build a story based on how incredible this man is and etc. Didn't score in semi finals and finals? No problem, remember the bicycle kick (it was amazing, indeed) again and again until you believe that his invisible games didn't happen.
Now looking at Messi, he's playing almost every single game because Barca can't do shit without him (lost the record in La Liga), he's scoring a lot, he's assisting a lot, he's producing almost one goal/assist each game. And I'm not even talking about build-up play and creating chances (Ronaldo contribute way less than Messi).
Yes, Messi should be doing more for Barca and Argentina. Yes, Messi needs to improve his work rate. And we can't deny that Messi is slowing down, but so as Ronaldo.
Please don't buy that shit talk about Ronaldo becoming better year after year and changing his body like an alien. He's resting more, playing less and saving himself for UCL games. That's how his staff can create the whole story. I'm 100% sure that if Messi rests in 10 games in La Liga, stop playing Cup games, and save himself only for UCL games, with a bit of luck the whole media and fans would change their point of view, just because today is not about how well you play and what you produce during the game but how well your personal staff can create a story about that game, for the newspapers and magazines to publish.
Sorry for the long post, really needed to express this thoughts.