Champions League news: Cristiano Ronaldo way ahead of Lionel Messi with incredible knockout stage goal record

What's the story?

Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo boasts having an incredible goalscoring record in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, miles ahead of Barcelona captain Lionel Messi.

In case you didn't know...

Both Barcelona and Juventus have crucial European clashes looming in the form of the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final fixtures against Manchester United and Ajax respectively.

The two football giants will walk into the closing leg of their fixtures as favourites after having earned a first-leg advantage last week. While Barcelona won 1-0 at Old Trafford, courtesy of an own-goal from United full-back Luke Shaw, Juventus have an away goal advantage, following their 1-1 draw with Ajax, with Ronaldo netting against the Dutch giants.

Both teams appear to have the Champions League as their top priority this season, with the Serie A and La Liga titles likely to be theirs soon.

The heart of the matter

Ronaldo has netted a staggering 64 goals in the knockout stages of the Champions League so far, 22 more than second-placed Messi, who has 42 knockout stage goals to his name.

The Portuguese superstar is also ahead of Messi in terms of goals scored in the quarter-final, semi-final and final.

While the Barcelona star has 10 goals from 21 quarter-final games in the competition, Ronaldo has 24 goals in the same number of appearances.

In the semi-finals, Ronaldo has 13 goals in 21 appearances so far, nine more than Messi. In the finals, the former Real Madrid star has four goals from six games, while Messi has two, same as Blancos captain Sergio Ramos.

What's next?

You can catch the second leg of the quarter-final fixture between Barcelona and Manchester United as well as Juventus and Ajax tonight at 12.30AM (IST).