Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi Fans Clash on Twitter After Study Declares Man Utd Forward GOAT

Messi and Ronaldo are widely considered the finest players of the present generation and arguably the greatest of all time. The pair holds a plethora of records. While the Argentine skipper is the only six-time winner of the prestigious Ballon d'Or, CR7 recently became the top goalscorer in international football.

Supporters of football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have indulged in war of words on Twitter after a study by a University of Oxford mathematician declared the Portuguese icon the greatest of all time (GOAT) ahead of former Barcelona talisman and three-time World Cup winner Pele.

While Messi fans have claimed Ronaldo's PR team is behind Dr Tom Crawford's findings, the Portugal captain's admirers feel that the title actually suits him the most for having scored the most goals in the game.

Who is the greatest player of all time? 🐐

University of Oxford mathematician @tomrocksmaths has crunched the numbers to finally end the debate.

Watch the full video on the LiveScore app to find out the true GOAT!

👉: https://t.co/OUZiFBjOY2 pic.twitter.com/1MkFsOUQxN

— LiveScore (@livescore) September 7, 2021

Nah… Ronaldo P/R is unmatched .. Insecurities are on another level. Man Hires a mathematician to say he is the goat. Even Pele’s kitchen goals weren’t that bad.

— Messi Avenger (@MESSIAVENGE) September 7, 2021

A study of the ten best footballers ever came to one conclusion - Cristiano Ronaldo is the GOAT
An algorithm created by a leading mathematician at the University of Oxford was responsible for the findings. It doesn't get more trustworthy than that! pic.twitter.com/CaSnTgl0EQ

— Manuel Menacho (@MenachoManuel1) September 7, 2021

Ronaldo is actually downgrading himself by expressing his insecurity about Messi. Meanwhile, Messi doesn't give a F about Ronaldo

— Afaaf Hariri (@AfaafHariri19) September 7, 2021

This guy is seriously ill man. Ronaldo fans used to troll Messi by saying that Sofascore is owned by his dad. But their idol has went one step ahead and sponsored a scoring app for his goat prop. _/\_ https://t.co/s4PxXgAbBC

— RAM (@MeticulousViews) September 7, 2021

A mathematician thinks he has more ball knowledge than most players and managers who all say Messi is the goat lol

+ Messi dominated ronaldo in everything (goals, assists, dribbles, playmaking, passing) 🤡 pic.twitter.com/Va4WIkMHCK

— J1 (@J1bru) September 7, 2021

Missi hasn't even mastered scoring pens, how is he dominating all attacking aspects? Cr7 2008-2014 dominated all aspects. Messi never scored from 30+ meters several times, score headers regularly or go past people with explosive pace. Only advantage messi has is dribbling+passing pic.twitter.com/RwqRavAt1G

— AMJ🐢💔 (@BlancoAMJ) September 7, 2021

The shameful part is, they can’t even hide it or at least fake it. They try to bring up Messi and the other guy conversation in all they do. It is so shameful.

— 🤩Ohiz🤩 (@dare_johnson) September 7, 2021

Another proof that Ronaldo's greatest achievement is getting compared to Messi.

— Afaaf Hariri (@AfaafHariri19) September 7, 2021

Certain fan base who’s still in school wants to argue with an Oxford mathematician 😭

— 𝕁𝔸𝕐 🥷 (@ffsjayyy) September 7, 2021

With the ongoing debate about the greatest-ever footballer escalating after Messi's arrival in Paris and Ronaldo's return to Manchester United, Dr Crawford came up with a unique algorithm, which he has dubbed the GOAT index to measure a player's greatness.

His measurement module takes a player's achievements for both club and country into account as it compares some of the best footballers across eras to find the answer to the most debated question in the sport.

The study, conducted in conjunction with LiveScore, gives Ronaldo a score of 100 percent, followed by Messi, with a score of 94 percent.

Brazilian legend Pele, Hungarian great Ferenc Puskas, and 1994 and 2002 World Cup winner Ronaldo Nazario round out the top 5, with scores of 85, 57, and 52 percent respectively.

In his study, Dr Crawford came up with seven categories, which became the basis of analysing the performance of the footballers and how they would be rated in the LiveScore rankings.

Only players who have won the Ballon d'Or at least twice in their careers since the award's inception in 1956 or the men who were recognised as greats before that year, were considered for the study.

The stringent qualification criteria left only CR7, Messi, Pele, Maradona, Marco van Basten, Johan Cruyff, Puskas, Di Stefano, Brazilian Ronaldo, and Michel Platini on the list.

First, Dr Crawford, assessed the players' club achievements. Ronaldo with his seven league titles in England, Spain, and Italy and five Champions League trophies with Man United and Real Madrid ended up in pole position with Messi close behind.

Second, international honours were considered in the equation, with 150 points awarded to each player for a World Cup triumph and 100 points for winning the Euro crown or the Copa America trophy.

Here both Messi and CR7 lost to yesteryear superstar Ronaldo of Brazil as he won two World Cups in 1994 and 2002 and two Copa Americas in 1997 and 1999.

But Cristiano topped the international goals category because of his recent heroics for Portugal. It was only last week that he overtook Iranian Ali Daei's record of 109 goals to emerge as the leading goalscorer in men's football.