After a woeful start to 2015, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi sought out new means to get back on track.

Over the last two weeks, the two players have gotten opportunities to pad their numbers in the Spanish League and Copa del Rey.

Ronaldo got the first shot at making an impression in the Copa del Rey first leg against Atletico Madrid. In that opening match, the superstar struggled to make much of impact as Los Colchoneros cruised to a 2-0 win. Ronaldo's contribution to the game? One shot on goal and none on target. And he also only managed a total of 12 touches in the entire match. Of course, he did come on as a substitute, so his inability to turn the tie around is mainly due to getting little over a quarter of an hour of game time.

He improved a few days later as Los Blancos cruised to a 3-0 win over Espanyol but remained frustrated as he failed to score a single goal. He did however make an outstanding pass for an assist on James Rodriguez's opening goal. But even in that game, Ronaldo managed four shots but none on target. His passing had over 80 percent success rate, and he had 50 touches throughout the game.

So how did Messi respond in the second week of the second? In the Copa del Rey second leg against Elche the superstar put up a goal on a penalty to give his team a 3-0 lead. But his real gem was the following weekend when Barcelona hosted Atletico Madrid in a huge match with tremendous Spanish league title implications. A loss for Barcelona would leave the Catalan club in third place, while a win would create some distance from Los Colchoneros.

And who else would be the hero but Messi, who put seven shots on goal, three of them on target. He scored a goal, provided an assist while coming second on the team in touches with 90 (Dani Alves had a team leading 91 touches in the game). It was a defining performance by Messi and, if not his best of the year, certainly one which comes close.

In the following week, Ronaldo looked poised for a big turn as he got the start against Los Colchoneros in the second leg. But alas the superstar -- while scoring one goal, nine shots (three on target), one key pass, an 87.5 passing completion rate and 62 touches -- had a solid turn out but not enough to give his team what it needed -- a big win.

At least he made up for it with a huge performance on the weekend against Getafe. The superstar netted two goals, including a brilliant header while taking seven shots, completing 87.5 percent of his passes and getting 65 touches.

Et tu, Messi? The Argentine did not get a chance to play in the second Copa del Rey leg, but with the aggregate at 5-0 heading into the tilt, the outcome was essentially resolved. But Messi made sure to remind the world that anything Ronaldo does, he can do better with not one or two but three goals in the team's visit to Deportivo La Coruna. Messi even had a header goal in the match, though he only connected on 77.1 percent of his passes.

Season and Annual Stats

For those keeping track, Messi has five goals and three assists on the year, and Ronaldo has four goals and one assist in 2015. On the year, Ronaldo has 36 goals and 13 assists in 30 games in all competitions, and his rival has 28 goals and 12 assists in 26 matches. Messi will get more Copa del Rey games (assuming Barcelona gets past the quarterfinals against Atletico Madrid), while Ronaldo will have to put up his stats in only the Spanish League and Champions League, competitions Messi also gets a chance at. With 28 goals in 17 games, Ronaldo is still on pace for 60 goals in the Spanish League -- if he scores as he was at the start of the year. That would be a record, topping Messi's 50 goals in a Spanish League year back in 2011-12. Messi is on pace for 38 goals in Spain.

Winner

For week one, there is really no contest. Messi scored twice in two games, while his rival failed to notch more than an assist in that week. And in the follow up week, Ronaldo managed three goals, but so did Messi. The fact that Messi managed his three goals in a single game adds to his worth and lifts him over his big rival in that week as well. Heading into the two weeks, Ronaldo held a 9-5 edge. Now make that 9-7 with Messi winning the last two weeks.

For the last round of the Messi vs. Ronaldo weekly feature, click here.