If there ever a moment for the Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry to reach its apex, Sunday night would have been it.

For Lionel Messi, it was the second game of the week, while Cristiano Ronaldo was hoping to have a big impact in the Clasico to help Real Madrid move forward.

But at the end of the day, it was Barcelona who pulled ahead with a big victory. And while he did not score a goal in the game, Messi had a tremendous game, particularly in the second half where he came alive to help create a number of scoring chances.

He finished the game with five shots, one on target (stopped by Iker Casillas), a game-high four key passes, two accurate long balls, one accurate through ball, one cross, 47 passes and 77 touches (second-most in the game behind Toni Kroos and most on his team). He even pitched in with two tackles, tied for sixth on his team; Ronaldo managed nothing in the defense department for his team. Messi also finished with an assist on Barcelona's first goal and grew stronger as the game wore on. It is no surprise that as Messi became more involved, Barcelona grew stronger.

It was the second straight game in which Messi's influence led to a Barcelona win. The Manchester City game earlier in the week, Messi failed to score but was nutmegging defenders at will. He created a tremendous assist on the game winner by firing a cross from one side of the park to the other. In that game he also had eight shots (three on target), five key passes and whopping 116 touches on the night; Jordi Alba and Andres Iniesta were tied for second in that department with 81 touches.

On the other side of the Clasico pitch, Ronaldo managed to score a huge goal and few could claim that it was just a simple tap-in. In fact, that goal was similar to many people would celebrate Messi for. He received a pass in his end of the pitch and dished it off to Luka Modric. Meanwhile Ronaldo made a run up the pitch, drawing the defender and opening up space for Modric to move forward. Eventually Ronaldo wound up finding a open lane and received a beautiful pass from Karim Benzema that he poked past Claudio Bravo for the 1-1 goal. The goal made him the third highest goal in the Clasico alongside Raul Gonzalez, behind Messi and  And while he had more opportunities to put the ball in the net, including a long range blast that Claudio Bravo shut down, Ronaldo's impact on the game diminished as it wore on; interestingly as Ronaldo surged Messi declined and then the inverse took place.

Ronaldo had a decent game overall and could have had two if his first shot did not hit the bar. He managed 32 passes on the night, including one key pass, completed 84 percent of his passes, had a game-high three aerial victories, had four shots (two on target) and finished with 52 touches on the night.

But his team lost the big one. 

Season Stats

Messi remains ahead of Ronaldo in the goalscoring competition on the season. The Argentinian has 43 goals overall and 32 in the Spanish League while Ronaldo now has 42 goals in all competitions and 31 domestically. The assist gave Messi his 22nd of the year (Ronaldo has just 16); Messi's career-high assists in a season stands at 28 in 2011-12. Ronaldo has already topped his assist count in a single season. In the Champions League Messi has eight goals and three assists; Ronaldo has an identical stat line.

Overall Messi has created a total of 65 goals for Barcelona in all competitions while Ronaldo has created 58.

Calendar Year Stats

Messi would still be the Ballon d'Or favorite if the award were voted on today. He has 20 goals and 13 assists in 19 games in 2015; he is creating an average of 1.73 goals per game thus far. Ronaldo meanwhile has 10 goals and four assists in 15 games for Madrid and is creating under a goal per game for his club at this point in the year.

Streaking

Messi has been involved in a Barcelona goal (either by scoring or assisting) in six straight games; in that span he has six goals and four assists. He had a two-game "slump" between Feb. 21 and 24.

Ronaldo has been involved in a Real Madrid goal in three straight games; he three goals and one assist in that span. He also has two yellow cards.

Since returning from his suspension on Feb. 7, Ronaldo has played nine games and has contributed six goals and three assists.

Winner

Ronaldo scored more goals than Messi this week, but Messi won two games and was the catalyst behind both victories. He takes this week's tie easily and now holds a 13-11 edge in the contest.

For last week's matchup, click here.