It was a horrid week for the two most renowned superstars in the world. While Robert Lewandowski finished his week with seven goals in two games, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued looking to add to their goal totals but only continued to find inconsistency.

Ronaldo got his week off to a poor start against Athletic Bilbao. With a chance to score goal number 500 of his career, the superstar whiffed tremendously managing just four shots on net in the game and only one on target. It was undoubtedly a down night for Ronaldo who usually gets around six shots at goal. He really lacked the service from his team overall with Real Madrid struggling at times to contain an aggressive Athletic Bilbao side.

The second game was a mixed bag. Ronaldo found himself more space in the opposing half, his positioning and runs far more convincing. The problem is the finishing was no where to be found. He had a whopping 14 shots at goal (more than the entire Sevilla side combined) and scored no goals. Moreover, he could only blame the opposition goalie on two occasions as he missed the target on 12 other occasions. Wastefulness is the best way to describe Ronaldo's poor night. It signals to one of three things. Either he is lacking concentration due to being on the verge of making history. He could be experiencing bad luck (though failing to score in five of seven games is a trend at this juncture). The other possibility is that Ronaldo is no longer as efficient or consistent as in the past; this might be a sign of decline.

Meanwhile Messi also struggled in game number one of the week though he was not as fortunate as his rival to being on the winning end. Instead, Barcelona was crushed 4-1 at Celta Vigo with Messi managing an assist on the lone goal and hitting the woodworks on one of his three shots on target (he had seven shots overall). He also managed five dribbles and six key passes, so there was no reason to pin the loss on him. Ultimately however the numbers look good but the most important one, the zero for goals scored, is the one that counts most and Messi failed to deliver there.

The second match against Las Palmas saw Messi play all of 10 minutes before leaving the pitch injured. He will now miss two months.

 

Season Stats

Ronaldo has eight goals and one assist in seven matches while Messi has six goals and two assists in 10 games.

Five of Ronaldo's goals have come in La Liga and all of them came in one of six matches. Not the mark of consistency that Ronaldo has been in the past.

Messi has three goals in la Liga, none in the Champions League and three in preseason tournament. Again he is also enduring a struggle of sorts.

 

Calendar Year Stats

In 2015 Messi has 45 goals and 25 assists in 53 games; he might struggle to hit 60 for the year since he will not be back until November. Meanwhile Ronaldo has 40 goals and 11 assists in 40 matches.

Winner

It is a tough one to pick since both players had woeful weeks. At this point you look at Messi's lone assist and give him the win by virtue of Ronaldo having no major involvement in Madrid's 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao and wasting chance after chance against Malaga.

Messi now leads 3-2.

Past Editions in 2015-16

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4