Goals · 2006
Messi vs Ronaldo in 2006: 17 vs 23 goals.
In 2006, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 23 goals to Lionel Messi's 17 — a margin of 6 in Ronaldo's favour.
Cristiano Ronaldo · 2006
23
goals — his 20th-best scoring year
Played for Manchester United and Portugal.
2006 is one of two years on this site kept out of search results. Messi scored 17 and Ronaldo 23, which are their joint 20th- and 20th-best calendar years respectively — the two lowest-scoring years either man has on record here. Messi was at Barcelona and Ronaldo at Manchester United, both early in careers that had not yet produced most of what the rest of this site is about.
This site holds no 2006-specific records at all beyond those two totals — no dated moment, no overlapping peak season, no award involving either player. Rather than pad the page to look like the others, it is left short and marked noindex. It stays in the year navigation and in the year-by-year index, where the adjacent years have considerably more.
Frequently asked
How many goals did Lionel Messi score in 2006?+
Lionel Messi scored 17 goals in the 2006 calendar year, playing for Barcelona and Argentina. That is his joint 20th-highest scoring year on record.
How many goals did Cristiano Ronaldo score in 2006?+
Cristiano Ronaldo scored 23 goals in the 2006 calendar year, playing for Manchester United and Portugal. That is his 20th-highest scoring year on record.
Who scored more goals in 2006, Messi or Ronaldo?+
Cristiano Ronaldo, by 6 goals — 23 to 17. Between them they scored 40 goals in the 2006 calendar year.