On Tuesday, Uefa released a report with a player ranking based on the distance run across the four Champions League group matches that have taken place thus far in the 2017/18 campaign.
And European football’s governing body decided to include a separate comment to highlight the data of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who did not feature in the Top 10.
The Real Madrid and Barcelona stars that have dominated the podium at Uefa’s award galas in recent years are shown up significantly by the figures, although it is clear that their styles vary considerably from others listed.
The Portuguese forward has covered 36,870 metres in the four games for Los Blancos while the Argentine just 29,802 metres for Barça.
With both completing the total 360 minutes involved, that means that Cristiano has covered an average of 1,767m more per game.
In terms of highest average, however, that goes to another Premier League star.
Christian Eriksen has completed an average of 140.5 metres per minute in the three full games he has played for Tottenham Hotspur.
As a comparison, Cristiano and Messi have covered 102.4 m/min and 82.8 m/min respectively.
