Messi would always go in and around the box as like you said he was more of a forward than a winger, Messi first 5 seasons at Barca he had 1 goal 8 goals, 17 goals, 16 goals, 38 goals.
Ronaldo was more of a showboating flashy winger than a scorer and hardly found himself in the box. Keep in mind Ronaldo has changed his positions and transformed himself 3 different times if you think about it. Anyways in Comparison this is Ronaldos first 5 seasons, 5 goals, 6 goals, 9 goals, 12 goals, 23 goals.
Was only in his 5th season where he really Began popping up in more goal scoring areas in and around the box and began to gan some of his positional awareness. The following year he scored 42 goals and you know what happened the next 10 years.