Is there any way to settle the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi?

Well, football fans certainly came one step closer this year when Messi was handed his sixth Ballon d'Or trophy, moving him one ahead of Ronaldo despite being two years his junior.

Ronaldo was forced to settle for third place behind Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, but will no doubt come flying out of the blocks in 2020 to try and draw the scores level again.

However, such are the differences in style between Ronaldo and Messi - as well as their near inseparable statistics - that the debate will rage on long after they retire.

It doesn't matter whether one hangs up their boots with more Ballon d'Or trophies than the other, you can guarantee that football fans will still contest the statistics.

Ronaldo vs Messi

But that doesn't stop us from searching for hilarious ways to answer the question in the mean time, right?

And thanks to YouTuber 'Rich Leigh', FIFA 20 has been deployed to imagine what would happen if an entire team of Messis locked horns with a team of Ronaldos in the Champions League.

That's right, 11 clones of Messi playing in every position from goalkeeper to striker, playing against an equally uniform XI of Ronaldos. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Full video

We documented a similar experiment where a team of Messis defeated a team of Van Dijks, but what happened when the two greatest players in history went head-to-head?

Check out the full video down below and keep scrolling for our breakdown of the game:

Match report

After an initial chance from Messi in the opening minutes, which Ronaldo collected with ease, it was team Ronaldo that started much the better side and peppered in a number of crosses.

It eventually paid off when - in the 27th minute - one of the centre-back Messis felled Ronaldo as he was winding up for a volley. Penalty to Ronaldo.

However, despite the Ronaldo's reliability from spot kicks in real life and the fact he was facing a goalkeeper under six foot tall, he shockingly scuffed his effort wide of the post.

And it proved to be costly as the newly-inspired Messis went down the other end of the pitch, finding the bottom corner with a fine counterattacking move. 

That was enough to separate the teams at half-time.

But it seemed as though the Ronaldos still had their heads down after the original goal, because three Messis put together a fine passing move to score on 53 minutes.

Despite Ronaldo being taller and stronger, we can reliably inform by this point that it doesn't necessarily make him a defender or goalkeeper worthy of stopping Messi.

The same can also be said on the flip-side as the Ronaldos finally exploited their height advantage just six minutes later; Ronaldo heading home a pinpoint cross from, well, Ronaldo.

But they couldn't take advantage of ruining Messi's clean sheet, failing to create any major chances for an equaliser and allowing the Barcelona clones to bag themselves a third goal.

After a penetrating through ball, Messi profited from some suspect goalkeeping to find the net with his right foot at the near post. In the end, that was all she wrote.

Full time: Team Lionel Messi 3-1 Team Cristiano Ronaldo

It was also tested who would win if Ronaldo and Messi battled it in street football.

Using FIFA 20's 'Volta' game mode, the YouTuber established that Messi would win pretty comfortably again, leading 3-0 at half time and eventually securing a 4-1 victory.  

So, yes, be sure to take these simulations with a massive lump of salt, but everything at EA Sports is pointing towards the higher-rated Barcelona star getting the better of his eternal rival.

We're inclined to think the stronger, faster and more athletic Ronaldo would make for the more rounded XI, we just haven't got the cloning technology to prove it. Maybe one day...