Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Who'll Score More Goals This Season and Why

With this football season reaching its dramatic climax, the two best players in the world are again all alone in the race to determine the top scorer of the season.

Such has been the prowess of Barcelona's Lionel Messi that Cristiano Ronaldo is all but out of the race to score more goals in all competitions, despite finding the net more often than matches he has appeared in this season.

You read that correctly: after last season ended with the two tied at 53 goals, Ronaldo has 43 goals in 41 matches, while Messi has set an unprecedented standard with 54 goals in 45 matches.

So, in that sense, it is clear who will score more goals this season.

However, arguments can be made about the way in which those goals came about.

For example, Messi's six goals over two matches against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League round of 16, while featuring some of the most impressive play ever seen, can be lowered in importance by the fact that Ronaldo was not afforded the opportunity to play the German side.

Hence, a more level playing field (for both sides) must be found to judge these two goal-scoring machines.

This can easily be found in the race for the Pichichi.

In the annual award given to La Liga's top scorer, both players are given the same number of matches and the same competition, hence becoming the perfect measuring stick.

Two seasons ago, Messi was able to walk away with the award by out-gunning Ronaldo by eight goals, while the Portuguese claimed the award last year by scoring nine more than the Argentinean.

The standings this season are much more competitive than the past few years, as well as the gol totals for all competitions: 34 goals for Messi, 33 for Ronaldo.

(As a side note, third on that list is Radamel Falcao with 19; such is the age of domination that we are experiencing)

So, with ten matches remaining in the La Liga season, only one goal separates our two competitors.

In terms of their upcoming opponents, they are in nearly a dead heat: In the first matches against the set of opponents they have in front of them, Ronaldo scored 14 goals to Messi's 12.

Whatever slight advantage you can take from Ronaldo's lead in that category, though, diminishes when you look at goal rate of their respective team's total goals in La Liga, where Messi has scored 41.5% of the goals compared to Ronaldo's 36.7%.

It is even a dead heat in terms of match importance for each player's club: Madrid's now six-point lead over Barcelona makes for a tight run-in that allows for both clubs to go after wins.

Hence, there is nearly a deadlock between the two.

To me, the difference-maker in this race will lie in one area: The importance of the award to each player.

From this, Ronaldo is the clear winner.

Now, I am not trying to say that Messi does not care about the Pichichi, however, I would assert that it is at the bottom of his list of priorities.

Look at their playing styles:

Barcelona runs a free-flowing system to suit Messi, where he scores a lot of goals, but also provides plenty of assists and sets up his teammates if they are in a better situation than he is.

Madrid runs a more staccato system to suit Ronaldo that is more centered upon individual performance and ability.

Look at last season:

Trailing in La Liga by more points than were salvageable, Mourinho and Madrid got behind Ronaldo and enabled him to win the Pichichi, viewing that as almost a cup in itself.

Draw what conclusions from this as you will, but the evidence is clear: Messi puts individual accomplishments on the backburner for team accomplishments, while Ronaldo goes after glory for both himself and his club.

Thus, with the race for the Pichichi seemingly too close to call, I'm calling it.

As the matches go by and Madrid's six-point lead becomes less reachable for Barca, Los Blancos will let loose and allow Ronaldo to run away with the Pichichi without too much worry about the match result.

No matter what, though, this will be an incredible run-in in terms of both the race for La Liga and the Pichichi.