Numbers don't lie | Luis Suarez is a bigger match-winner than Ronaldo

For the past few years most of the individual football awards, especially in Europe, have been “duopolized” by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, however, we could possibly see a new name on the Ballon d'Or this year. Luis Suarez has dominated La Liga this season and with one match remaining before the title is decided, he has the highest number of goals and joint highest number of assists in the league.

Ronaldo's prolific record in the Champions League

Suarez's numbers are more consistent across the tournaments, but it is Ronaldo who takes the cake when it comes to goals scored per minute, although not by much.

Ronaldo's willingness to shoot at every given opportunity has been highlighted throughout his career, however, that also means that he needs more chances to score his goals. The 31-year-old has taken 309 shots to score his 49 goals in Champions League and La Liga, highest among the top-12 goalscorers in Europe. Suarez, on the other hand, has been the most clinical, and even his teammates Lionel Messi and Neymar are way behind the Uruguayan in this aspect of the game currently. The former Liverpool star has scored a goal every 3.64 shots! One would almost expect a sentence like that to be part of the “Ripley's Believe it or not” show.

No, we are not talking about the dark side of the Uruguayan, which has seen him land in trouble in the past. We are talking about his incredible work ethic as a footballer. His willingness to run himself to the ground for his team, do the dirty work of hustling opponents when they have possession, tracking runners and tackling them. This is one aspect of the game where Suarez is head and shoulders above most of the strikers in the world, leave along Lionel Messi and Ronaldo.

In a team like Barcelona, who rely on winning back the possession as soon as they lose it, Suarez is a perfect fit.

Barcelona more dependent on Suarez than Real Madrid are on on Ronaldo?

Ronaldo does not have the likes of Messi and Neymar to support him in attack—a commonly used fact to subvert the contributions of Suarez in this Barcelona side. One would expect the statistics to support this argument as well. But the numbers tell a very different story.

Suarez has stepped up in the big matches and on big occasions

In all these ‘big’ games, Luis Suarez has been a prominent figure for the Catalan side, being involved in 10 goals in these 10 games. Ronaldo though, has often gone missing in these matches. He has scored four goals in the 11 'big' matches he has played in, three of which came against Wolfsburg.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have been a part of a lot of one-sided games through this season, where they have absolutely demolished their opponents. However, the real test of a goalscorer comes when his team is in need of a goal, be it while trailing or drawing an opponent. Incredibly, Suarez has won 20 matches for Barca this season, and has helped them salvage a point on three occasions.

Both these players have incredible numbers to their names, and we are lucky to witness them competing against each other at their primes. However, football badly is in need of someone who could breakthrough the stronghold of Messi and Ronaldo, and in Suarez we have someone who has been able to do so. There will be very few more deserving candidates than the 29-year-old in the Ballon d'Or ceremony this year, but the past has taught us that these award ceremonies are not always driven by logic. But, it is fair to say, Suarez has been the best player in Europe, and probably the world, this season.