Neymar vs Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: Career stats comparison at age 34

Neymar turned 34 on 5 February 2026.

Now that Neymar is 34 years old, how do his stats stack up to those of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the same age? We’ve done the math. After Messi and Ronaldo, the Brazilian is regarded by many as the third-best player of the current generation.

Although Neymar has never been able to win the Ballon d’Or, he can consider himself unfortunate that the two best players of all time also happened to be in his prime.

It soon became evident that Brazil had a generational talent on their hands after he made his breakthrough at Santos in 2009 as a young, undeveloped teenager.

It would have been simple for Neymar to crumble under the pressure, especially with all of the media rumours and hoopla around him as a child.

Although some argue that he never realised his full potential, he has continuously shown his value and is likely the third-best player of the contemporary age.

In fact, Neymar was excellent enough to be discussed with Messi and Ronaldo when he was at his best. Some supporters still believe he should have won the Ballon d’Or that year instead of Messi because of how important he was to Barcelona in 2014–15.

Similarly, considering his performance levels at the time, he was unlucky not to win a Ballon d’Or while in France, even if his lucrative move to PSG was closely watched.

Even though the 34-year-old is past his prime, his stats are still on pace with those of Messi and Ronaldo. Neymar has participated in 747 club and national team games overall, contributing 288 assists and 450 goals.

At a similar age, Ronaldo had 677 goals and 213 assists in 945 games, while Messi had 745 goals and 311 assists in 925 games.

Messi and Ronaldo appear to be far superior to Neymar on the surface, but this is mostly because they have played a lot more games.

The Brazilian has, in fact, a better performance than Ronaldo in terms of minutes per goal contribution (34), and he isn’t all that different from Messi either.

Neymar’s stats at the age of 34 compared to Messi & Ronaldo at the same age

Neymar

• Games: 747
• Goals: 450
• Assists: 288
• Goal contributions: 738
• Penalties: 89
• Minutes per goal: 135.8
• Minutes per non-penalty goal: 169.2
• Minutes per goal or assist: 82.9

Messi

• Games: 925
• Goals: 745
• Assists: 311
• Goal contributions: 1056
• Penalties: 99
• Minutes per goal: 101.5
• Minutes per non-penalty goal: 117.1
• Minutes per goal or assist: 71.6

Ronaldo

• Games: 945
• Goals: 677
• Assists: 213
• Goal contributions: 890
• Penalties: 109
• Minutes per goal: 112.6
• Minutes per non-penalty goal: 134.2
• Minutes per goal or assist: 85.7

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