Road to El Classico: Records Messi and Ronaldo are yet to break

The much-anticipated final El Classico of 2016 between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is just a day away and the excitement levels of the football fans around the globe have gone through the roofs. It is Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo time and the comparison war have popped up again.

 

On one hand, Real Madrid are on a wonderful run in the La Liga and are currently the table toppers and on the other, Barcelona are trying to break their long winless streak.

 

Amidst all the battles, here are a few interesting facts that football fans need to know about Ronaldo and Messi before the referee blows the whistle on Saturday. Messi and Ronaldo have been two of the sensations of world football for quite some time now but there are some records that they have not managed to break. But one never knows when Messi and Ronaldo go on to break these records.

 

Here is a list of records Messi and Ronaldo are yet to break:

 

• Most goals in a single La Liga game – Ronaldo came close to beating that record of 7 goals (set by Athletic Bilbao’s Agustin Sauto Arana and Barcelona’s Laszlo Kubala) in a match twice when he scored 5 goals.    

 

• Most consecutive La Liga hat-tricks – Both these footballers hold the record of scoring maximum number of hat-tricks in a single season (8) but they did not score three hat-tricks in a row. This record is held by Real Oviedo’s Isidro Langara since 1935.

 

• Most consecutive four-goals in La Liga – This record is held by Messi’s teammate Luis Suarez. Ronaldo came close to equalling the record but stopped at 7 goals in two matches.

 

• Most career goals in one of the European Top 5 leagues – This record is held by legendary Gerd Muller (365 goals) for Bayern Munich. Messi now has 321 La Liga goals and Ronaldo has 267. It seems Messi will own that record pretty soon.

 

• Most career goals in Top 5 European leagues – Jimmy Greaves, the Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea legend, has 366 goals. But that record might topple soon as Ronaldo already has 354.

 

• Fastest La Liga Hat-trick – The record is owned by David Villa when he scored a hat-trick in 5 minutes against Athletic Bilbao for Valencia. Ronaldo came close to that as he scored one in 8 minutes last year against Grenada.