Ronaldo won four of his five awards in years when Real Madrid won the Champions League. Messi won five of his eight awards in years without the Champions League.

The conclusion is not that one is better than the other because of this - it is that the evaluation model systematically favours whoever wins Europe's most high-profile competition, regardless of individual starring role. Throughout their careers, Messi maintained superior averages in goals, assists and best player awards, with the additional advantage of never having benefited from the Premier League scorer bonuses Ronaldo accumulated for years.

Ronaldo stands out in the chapter of Champions League goals and top scorer awards in that competition - an impressive record, but one that corresponds to the role of a penalty-box striker at a club that dominated Europe for a period.

But the CV as an argument for absolute superiority over Messi rests, in significant part, on the Champions League - and that is where the analysis becomes more complex.