The World Cup qualifiers in September are underway with great intensity, and Transfermarkt hasn’t been idle, analyzing the average goals per match of five top football stars for both club and national teams, focusing onMessi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Neymar, and Mbappé, among whom Messi and Ronaldo once again dominate. This time, it’s a tie between them, with Messi leading at club level and Ronaldo at national team level.

Messi/Argentina: aged 38, averaging 0.83 goals per club match (926 games) and 0.59 goals per national team match (194 games).

Ronaldo/Portugal: aged 40, averaging 0.75 goals per club match (1057 games) and 0.63 goals per national team match (222 games).

Lewandowski/Poland: aged 37, averaging 0.74 goals per club match (825 games) and 0.54 goals per national team match (160 games).

Neymar/Brazil: aged 33, averaging 0.60 goals per club match (611 games) and 0.62 goals per national team match (128 games).

Mbappé/France: aged 26, averaging 0.77 goals per club match (430 games) and 0.56 goals per national team match (91 games).

• Ranking of average goals per game at club level:Messi (0.83) > Mbappé (0.77) > Ronaldo (0.75) > Lewandowski (0.74) > Neymar (0.60)!
• Ranking of average goals per game at national team level:Ronaldo (0.63) > Neymar (0.62) > Messi (0.59) > Mbappé (0.56) > Lewandowski (0.54)!

Messi and Neymar are not pure strikers but also key playmakers, though Neymar’s peak period was shorter and injuries affected his stats. Additionally, European World Cup and Euro qualifiers mostly consist of groups with two strong teams and four weaker ones, creating a sharp contrast that helps European stars boost their national team goal stats.

Take Ronaldo’s national team goals as an example; this Portuguese superstaragainstLuxembourg (ranked 92nd) scored 11 goals; Lithuania (143rd) and Armenia (105th) both conceded 7 goals; and Andorra (174th) conceded 6 goals from him.Comparing European and American stars, European players tend to have better goal-scoring stats at the national team level.