Messi and Ronaldo Tied With 10 Goals Heading Into Champions League Final

Published on May 19th, 2015 7:50 pm EST
According to the bookmakers, there are five players that currently have a chance of finishing atop the 2014/15 Champions League goalscorers list. They are: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Carlos Tevez and Luis Suarez.

Of these five players, four (Messi, Neymar, Tevez, Suarez) will be competing in the Champions League final on June 6th. The other player, Cristiano Ronaldo, saw his team get eliminated in the semi-finals against Juventus.

Here are the goal totals of the five players mentioned above as of this moment:

Lionel Messi, 10 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo, 10 goals
Neymar, Jr., 9 goals
Carlos Tevez, 7 goals
Luis Suarez, 6 goals

As you can see, Ronaldo still has a chance of sharing the Champions League goal scoring title, assuming that Lionel Messi doesn't score at least one goal against Juventus, and assuming that Neymar, Jr. doesn't score at least two.

Based on his outstanding performances as of late, Lionel Messi is currently the clear favourite to win the goalscorers crown. Here are the odds of each player finishing at the top of the list:

Lionel Messi, 1.44
Cristiano Ronaldo, 4.00
Neymar, Jr., 5.50
Carlos Tevez, 81.00
Luis Suarez, 126.00

The odds of Tevez and Suarez scoring are both extremely high, as Tevez would need to notch at least three goals (and hope that Messi doesn't score) while Suarez would need to notch at least four.

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Given that Lionel Messi has 54 goals in 54 total appearances this year (including league play, Copa del Rey and Champions League), it is a pretty safe bet to say that he will likely step up in the biggest game of the year and score at least one goal against the side from Juventus.

Having said that, Neymar Jr., who is probably the only player capable of catching Messi at this point, certainly has the ability to turn in a multi-goal game, as he currently has 37 goals in 48 total appearances this year.