Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's ratings from FIFA 06 through to EA FC 25 have been revealed and there's a clear winner

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s ratings from FIFA 06 through to EA FC 25 have been revealed.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the last two decades of football. With 13 Ballon d’Ors between the pair, they have naturally been the two best players in the vast majority of the iterations of EA Sports’ flagship football game.

With both in the twilight of their careers however, neither takes the crown as the best player in EA FC 25, with Messi having an overall rating of 88 and Ronaldo an 86.

Across all the games Messi has been the superior player in 13 of the 19 editions they have shared together.

However, Ronaldo has a higher cumulative rating than his Argentine counterpart. The Al Nassr star ratings from 2006 add up to 1,832 while Messi’s add up to 1,815.

In FIFA 06 Messi, then a burgeoning talent at Barcelona, was rated 78, while Ronaldo, an established Manchester United and Portugal star, was rated 91.

The following three season saw Ronaldo rated higher than Messi (87-84, 90-86, 91-90) only for the roles to be reversed in FIFA 10.

Messi went on to be rated narrowly better than Ronaldo for the following seven games, before Ronaldo claimed a superior rating for FIFA 17 and 18.

FIFA 19 was the first ever game where both icons were rated the same (94), while Messi has had a better rating than Ronaldo in every game since.

Thus, it appears the EA franchise rates Messi as narrowly better than Ronaldo, an assessment of the pair that would be endorsed by the late Pele.

Ronaldo and Messi have dominated football over the past two decades (Getty)

When asked to choose between the pair, Pele told SporTV in 2018: "It's sad that you have only two players in the world to choose from, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Pele, Zico, Junior.

“All over the world now there are only two players. And Neymar, right? Our Brazilian is getting there."

However when pushed for a preference, Pele said: "I would still stay with Messi.

“Scoring is important, no doubt, but if you do not have anyone to prepare, then the ball is not enough.

“For my team, I prefer Messi. As for Cristiano Ronaldo, he's a great goalscorer.

“Ronaldo's been able to score goals, while you see Messi creating goals and directing the play, as well as scoring.

“Ronaldo's a great goalscorer, but in terms of the complete player, there's no doubt that Messi is the best."