Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: Who has more red cards in their career?

The Portuguese national team icon has never been given the marching orders while on international duty.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are arguably two of the best footballers that the world has the fortune of witnessing over the years. Countless highlight reels, fan debates, awards, trophies, memorable seasons have been written thanks  to the magic these two ever present GOATs of the game bring wherever they go. Now although they both might be at the fag end of their careers but the magic is still there.

But one thing that we all end up forgetting is that they both are human after all and can do errors. Thus, it is safe to conclude that both have had their fair share of controversies as well as disciplinary issues which in simpler terms means that they both have also raked in the dreaded red cards in their illustrious career and have gone onto the referees bead books.  

8 Ballon D'Or, World Cup, Copa America, countless domestic titles and European triumphs for the La Masia graduate for over 20 years is enough proof  that for the most part, he has let his football do the talking and has only made the opposition teams that have faced him see red whenever he has stepped onto the pitch.

Well, there is a Portuguese leading appearance and goal scorer isn’t far off on this list. Ronaldo has also celebrated winning the Ballon d’Or title five different times. That’s two more than the following three past legends of the game who are third in the all-time winners list – Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. 

Even the Brazilian phenom Ronaldo Nazario commonly known as R9 had won only two Ballon d’Ors in his highly illustrious career. With the Portugal national football team, Cristiano Ronaldo has won the UEFA Euro 2016 title alongside many domestic honours with the Red Devils(n  pun intended) at United and Los Blancos in Spain .

Apart from the accolades that both superstars have won, there is a side of their game that also needs to be looked at. We are talking about the disciplinary side of their game which has been very rare in their case considering they do not have the most aggressive of playing style but what you might end up finding out later may end up taking you by surprise.

Cristiano Ronaldo has seen four times more red cards than Lionel Messi

Yes, the headline as ridiculous as it sounds is actually factually true. Cristiano Ronaldo exactly has seen four times more red cards over the course of his highly illustrious career than Lionel Messi.

After a red card against Al Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final, Ronaldo’s tally of red cards has reached 12. This happened on 9 April while playing in the kits of Al Nassr. Before moving to the Knights of Najd, he had about 11 reds including 7 straight reds to his name.

Half of  his total tally of 12 red cards were achieved in the blissful tenure with Real Madrid. Adding one from his days with Juventus and more four had been shown in the red kit of Manchester United.

Lionel Messi has seen a decent three red cards

Lionel Messi has just entered into the referee books three times in his entire career upholding his image of being a good boy but his first taste of red was surprisingly on his international debut. The next time he saw red was a long 14 years later.

This was also on international duty against Chile. Messi’s only ever club career red was handed in the Supercopa final against Athletic Club. It was in a FC Barcelona kit. In contrast, Ronaldo has never ever received red while he has donned the colors of his international side Portugal, which ironically has a lot of Red.

Cover Credits - Goal.com