Messi and Ronaldo Watch: Week 2 Edition

We are almost through August and are already about to see the world's two best players go head-to-head for the second time this season.

Who will come out on top? Will the best individual performance lead to a victory for his team?

In week one, the Argentinian outshone his counterpart by scoring a brace in week one against Real Sociedad.

Messi was unmarkable in the opener and almost scored a couple more goals at Camp Nou.

Over in Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to show up against Valencia and was one of many disappointing Real players.

Since then, these two rivals have faced off against each other and had a second shot at performing in La Liga.

How did each player do in week two, and what is the total tally for each player? Read on to find out.

Spanish Supercopa

Spain saw its first Clasico of the season when Barcelona welcomed Real Madrid to Camp Nou in the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

It was our first chance to see Ronaldo and Messi share the pitch in an effort to put their teams on top.

As I explained in my review of the match, neither player was at their best.

Both players scored a goal and neither was necessarily 'bad', but the impact felt from both stars was short of what we expect from such great footballers.

Messi received a slightly higher grade because he was able to influence his team's attack in a way that drew enough attention from defenders for his teammates to score a couple of goals, but he was still not superb.

Ronaldo did well to head a corner kick past Victor Valdes, but that was the only positive of his night.

The Portugues star suffered from Jose Mourinho's rather defensive tactics, limiting his time on the ball. Despite having less time on the ball, he still opened the scoring and put his team in the lead.

Solid match from both players, but nowhere near their usual standards.

Messi Saves Barcelona Against Osasuna

Both players faced tough away matches just three days after facing off, and both teams almost finished the week without any points.

Barcelona were outplayed during the match, but as any Cule will tell you after last season, sometimes the best team fails to win.

In the end, it was Lionel Messi who stepped up when his team needed him most. In just five minutes the Argentinian scored a pair of goals that put La Blaugrana on top.

His second brace of the season was enough to get a very hard-fought three points for his side.

Those goals came with just 15 minutes left in the match and when players were experiencing a bit of deja vu with a repeat of last season's draw at Pamplona seemingly inevitable.

It is this type of clutch performance that wins titles—just ask Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo Fizzles Again

While Messi was carrying his team to victory, his rival had suffered his second flop in as many weeks.

Against Getafe, Ronaldo all but disappeared in a repeat of his performance against Los Che in the opener.

In the derby, CR7 was even more anonymous as he managed just 50 touches in the entire game.

Only Gonzalo Higuain saw less of the ball, and he was taken off just before the hour mark. Not to mention that he played as a lone striker.

The Portuguese also committed two fouls and did not dribble past a single opponent.

Fatigue is obviously a factor for Ronaldo and Real Madrid and he should be much stronger in a few weeks.

In his first two league matches, Ronaldo has failed to show up at all and has failed to get involved aside from a few sporadic moments.

His team needs him to do better if they are going to stop this three-game skid soon.

Compared with Messi, Ronaldo had a much tougher summer schedule so it is partially understandable that he has started more slowly than his rival.

Of course, last summer Messi had a much tougher summer schedule, but that didn't stop him from having a monster year and I expect the same to be true for Ronaldo after a bit of rest.

By the Numbers

As of right now, Messi is a level above Ronaldo.

Despite not playing to his full potential either, the Barcelona man has helped his team to three victories while Madrid are winless to this point.

Here is how the numbers look to this point.

	League Goals	League Assists	Total Goals	Total Assists
Messi	4	0	5	0
Ronaldo	0	0	1	0

Upcoming Schedule

Lionel Messi has outshone Cristiano Ronaldo through the first three matches of the 2012-2013 season, but all that could be about to change.

CR7 has a much more favorable group of fixtures coming up.

First we get to see Round 2 of Messi vs. Ronaldo when Barcelona heads to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

That match takes place on Wednesday, August 29 at 8:30 PM UTC

In La Liga, Messi will have a much harder time scoring goals as he faces Spain's third-best team on just three days' rest.

He will face a Valencia side that has already taken points from Real Madrid and looked almost unstoppable in the first half of their match against Deportivo.

Ronaldo will face a less dangerous Granada team that should still prove a tough challenge for the reigning champions—just like last season.

After that it's two weeks off for the pair of superstars. Not until then—when both players have gotten some much-needed rest—will we really start to get an idea of the season that is to come from Messi and Ronaldo.

Follow @MichaelCernaBR