The only way this debate makes any sense at all is if you dumb down the discussion as much as possible to just goals and assists. The more dimensions that you analyze, the more it becomes abundantly clear how superior Messi is as a player.
I find it absurd how people like Cal in this thread have somehow concluded that dribbling is meaningless unless it directly leads to something (a goal or assist). Is that also the case with key passes/through balls and such??? Football is a game of probabilities and the team that generates the most offense and highest quality offense is far more likely to score.
OPTA themselves have published graphics that say a progressive pass/run DOUBLES the likelihood that a team will score within the next 7 seconds. In this case a progressive pass/run is defined as one that advances the ball at least 10 meters.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-neymar-deal-was-certainly-crazy-but-was-it-smart/
Here's an OPTA graphic that shows that Messi, at the age of 30, was head and shoulders all other players including guys like Neymar at ball progression. And keep in mind this is years after his prime, and especially his dribbling prime. Back in 2011 Messi averaged almost 2x (!!!) as many dribbles per game as he did when this graphic was made (around 2016/17).
https://barcanumbers.wordpress.com/2018/12/06/who-are-the-best-finishers-in-contemporary-football/
Here is an extensive study that took 100's of thousands of shots between the year 2006 and 2017 and analyzed finishing efficiency by players based on shot location. Messi is #1 in shooting efficiency at almost every range and #1 overall, far above other players. Where is Cristiano? Not even in the top 200. In fact, it should be statistically impossible that Messi is that efficient of a finisher given his volume of shots and the degree of difficulty.
Outside of just raw goalscoring totals, Messi is several standard deviations above Ronaldo in almost every other significant offensive statistic (except for aerial duels lol). Dribbling, dribbling efficiency, chance creation, passing accuracy, touches per game, finishing efficiency, etc. Messi is head and shoulders above in these categories.
But the real thing is that these numbers should not matter. Anyone who watches the game can see how much greater Messi's impact is all over the pitch. Anyone can see how his legendary performances in La Liga and CL are vastly more impressive than Ronaldo's whom relies largely on 1 touch finishes in the box to make an impact. Anyone can see how the degree of difficulty on most of Messi's goals/assists/actions are way, way more impressive than most of Ronaldo's.
Not to say that CR isn't a titan of the game, but people are suddenly re-defining legacy to mean "goals" in this thread. Pre-2010 not a single person said shit about Muller being comparable to Beckenbauer as an influence on Germany/Bayern and yet in this thread some people have the audacity to say they were very close to comparable. Guys like Cruyff, Maradona, Zidane, and many many more would not be anywhere near the top based on the re-defined criteria people are using just to put Ronaldo on the same pedestal as Messi.
And that's the difference between them. You don't need to redefine what it means to be "great" to see why Messi is the GOAT, whereas you have to use some insanely dumbed down mental gymnastics to justify saying Cristiano is the GOAT. Peoples' insistence on putting his name in the same sentence as Messi has done him so many favors. It's allowed him, in the minds of some, to basically leapfrog Maradona/Cruyff and the likes in GOAT discussions just because he's compared to Leo and handwave away any serious debate that never took place as to why CR is suddenly greater than they are.
