Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi each got time in yet another game this week, albeit in rather different circumstances. While Ronaldo played in the Spanish League, Messi was off in Japan competing in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Barcelona managed two victories on the week, one without Messi and the other with the Argentine as the catalyst. Messi dominated River Plate, creating a plethora of scoring chances until eventually he scored the opening goal, which eventually became the winner. He was buzzing throughout the match, his performance only bested by Luis Suárez, who scored a whopping five goals across two games.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, scored more than Messi, including a game winner of his own, but his situation was unique. Real Madrid was putrid, despite winning 10-2 against Rayo Vallecano. The team was actually trailing 2-1 early in the game before a few red cards, one of them undeserved, got the team a two-man advantage. From there it was simple cruising for Madrid. Ronaldo scored off a controversial penalty and did not even celebrate. Later on in the game he added a second off a tremendous header, before eventually adding an assist on a counter attack.

It was a decent performance, though Ronaldo, who was rather expressive in his lack of enthusiasm, seemed to realize that this win proved nothing about his team's overall performance on the year. The scoreline in many ways seemed to resemble how the talisman's season has gone -- a boatload of goals against minnows but an inability to perform in the big games.

Season Stats

Ronaldo continues his scoring glut this year with 23 goals and seven assists in 22 matches. That said, he has a shockingly poor (by his standards) 12 goals and four assists in 16 Spanish League games. He is on pace for 28 goals, which would be his lowest total in the league since 2009-10, when he had just 26 goals in 29 games. His goal ratio of 0.75 would be his worst since his Manchester United days.

Messi, meanwhile, now has 12 goals and five assists in 17 matches. He has five goals and four assists in La Liga and is on pace for a shocking 17 goals, his worst since the 2007-08 season, when he scored 10 goals in 28 games; he had 12 assists that season.

Calendar Year Stats

Ronaldo has 55 goals and 17 assists in 56 games this year. He has one more game left in 2015 to add to that total. It looks to be his worst output since 2010, when he put up 48 goals and 17 assists in 59 games. He has hit 60 goals in every year since. Of course, considering Ronaldo's penchant for scoring multiple goals in a game and his two five-goal games in 2015, it is possible that he might hit 60 in the final game against Real Sociedad.

Messi has 51 goals and 26 assists in 60 games this year.

Winner: Ronaldo scored more goals, but Messi dominated River Plate in a Final game.

Ronaldo leads 5-4.