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Barcelona and Real Madrid without Messi and Ronaldo


La Liga would look very different if the goals of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were taken away


Ever wondered what the football world would be like without Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?

Well naturally we'd miss their stunning goals and dazzling trickery, but it seems erasing them would shake up the order of things in Spain.

Stats gurus Opta have calculated what the La Liga table would look like if the goals of the divine duo were taken away - and there's quite a dramatic change at the top.

In real life, Real Madrid currently enjoy a two-point advantage over their Clasico rivals, thanks in no small part to the 30 league goals of Ronaldo this season.

But if they and Messi's contribution of 27 goals were subtracted, it's Barcelona who would enjoy a slender one-point advantage at the summit.

Opta went through every match this season in which Messi and Ronaldo have scored and took away their goals from the final score.

With Messi, Barcelona would still win all but one of the matches in which he has scored. That is the 3-2 home win over Villarreal last month, which would end in a draw.

But taking away Ronaldo's goals affects Real's season more dramatically. The Portuguese scored four in the 5-1 home win over Elche, meaning they would only draw 1-1.

Removing his hat-trick against Celta Vigo would see them claim one point rather than three, and subtracting his goal against Villarreal last weekend means they would lose instead of draw.

It does prove to an extent that Real are more reliant on the goals of Ronaldo than Barcelona are on the goals of Messi.

But in such a nip and tuck title race, who's to say that won't change again by the end of the season.


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