Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: It's the biggest debate in all of sport.

You might feel like a footballing hipster picking Pele or Diego Maradona as the greatest of all time, but let's just admit that the contemporary duo are the best of the best. It's just, which one is better?

Messi seems to be the answer for purists who, regardless of the numbers, delight in the Barcelona star's more aesthetic style that focuses on close-quarter dribbling and impudent finishing.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo is the embodiment of hard work paying off and his mastery of the physical side of the game has seen him produce world-beating goal tallies deep into his thirties.

Sadly, they'll never be a definitive way to separate the two legends, statistics are the closest we can come to an objective answer and there are no better data banks than FIFA 20.

Ronaldo vs Messi on FIFA 20

Every year, EA Sports painstakingly rank all the players in their game with an overall rating, which is one number out of 100 that's informed by 29 individual in-game statistics.

And after we looked at the top performer for each of those attributes this week, we wondered who comes out on top between Ronaldo and Messi for every single one.

Just because Messi has the superior overall rating of 94, it doesn't necessarily mean he's the kingpin across the three major categories of physical, skill and mental.

Comparing every in-game stat

So, without further ado, here are the full results using data from futhead from each player's base card on Ultimate Team:

In Game: Physical

Acceleration: Lionel Messi (91)

Agility: Lionel Messi (93)

Balance: Lionel Messi (95)

Jumping: Cristiano Ronaldo (95)

Reactions: Cristiano Ronaldo (96)

Sprint speed: Cristiano Ronaldo (91)

Stamina: Cristiano Ronaldo (85)

Strength: Cristiano Ronaldo (78)

In Game: Skill

Ball control: Lionel Messi (96)

Crossing: Lionel Messi (88)

Curve: Lionel Messi (93)

Dribbling: Lionel Messi (97)

Finishing: Lionel Messi (95)

Free kick: Lionel Messi (94)

Heading: Cristiano Ronaldo (89)

Long passing: Lionel Messi (92)

Long shots: Lionel Messi (94)

Defensive awareness: Lionel Messi (33)

Penalties: Cristiano Ronaldo (85)

Short passing: Lionel Messi (92)

Shot power: Cristiano Ronaldo (95)

Sliding tackle: Lionel Messi (26)

Standing tackle: Lionel Messi (37)

Volleys: Lionel Messi (88)

In Game: Mental

Aggression: Cristiano Ronaldo (63)

Interceptions: Lionel Messi (40) 

Positioning: Cristiano Ronaldo (95)

Vision: Lionel Messi (94)

Composure: Lionel Messi (96)

Final score: Lionel Messi 19-10 Cristiano Ronaldo

There you have it. Messi justifies his superior rating with a triumphant turnout in the in-game stats.

It will come as no surprise that Ronaldo is victorious from a physical stand point, although he suffers a shock defeat in acceleration, but the Juventus star is simply destroyed in the skills category.

Messi absolutely whips his rival across attributes such as passing (both short and long), dribbling, tackling (both standing and sliding) and most importantly: finishing. 

And while you'd expect Ronaldo to have the edge with his mentality, Messi actually snatches a narrow win there as well with his superior footballing brain.

Sorry Cristiano, but the best player in the world is called Lionel Messi.