Who is better, Di María or Messi?
Lionel Messi leads with a GOAT score of 97.0 against 88.5 for Ángel Di María — a gap of 8.5 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Di María vs Messi
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Lionel Messi above Ángel Di María: 97.0 vs 88.5. Lionel Messi leads on Dominance, Statistics, Peak.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MessiWinner
97.0Messi wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Di María
88.5Di María wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to FootballShareable URL · /compare/angel-di-maria-vs-messi
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi
97.0
Messi leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
Di María — Insufficient verified career data to calculate a reliable GOAT Score.
1. Lionel Messi
2. Ángel Di María
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi79 goals
4 seasons by age 21 · 19.8 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Di María — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | Di MaríaActive | MessiActive · Inter Miami CF |
|---|---|---|
| World Cup titles | 1 | — |
| Copa América titles | 2 | — |
| Champions League titles | 1 | 4 |
| Olympic gold medals | 1 | — |
| Argentina caps | 145 | — |
| Career goals | — | 879 |
| Career assists | — | 383 |
| Ballon d'Or | — | 8 |
| World Cups | — | 1 |
| League titles | — | 12 |
| Goals per 90 | — | 0.79 |
| Dominance w25% | 82 | 98 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 99 |
| Longevity w20% | 90 | 92 |
| Honours w20% | 92 | 97 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 99 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Messi97.0
Di María88.5
FAQ
Where does Di María beat Messi?
Di María does not lead any of the five categories; Messi is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Di María vs Messi score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Di María: 88.5, Messi: 97.0.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Di María vs Messi. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.