Cristiano Ronaldo VS Lionel Messi

Each week, ESPN FC projects and reviews the scoring battle between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. We'll keep tabs on their game-by-game battle for La Liga supremacy.
Current goals total in La Liga: Ronaldo 5-3 Messi
With Lionel Messi sidelined by injury, Barcelona struggled and lose 2-1 at Sevilla. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo had an opportunity to pull away from his great rival in the goalscoring stakes. However, he was unable to cash in.
Ronaldo managed six shots in Real Madrid's 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid, but hit the target with just one and was unable to beat Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now gone four league games without a goal.

Ratings and review
Here's what our Real Madrid blogger had to say about Ronaldo's performance.
Rob Train on Ronaldo: 6/10 -- Ronaldo's first half free-kick was his 50th attempt at goal already this season, for a return so far of five, all of those came during Espanyol's implosion at the Power8 four league fixtures ago. Naturally, as it's Ronaldo, this can be put down to a blip, an anomaly, or whatever. He has five in two European games after all. However, in the Calderon he was dispossessed a number of times and only managed six attempts, which in itself is a huge dip compared to recent matches. And only one of those was on target and barely tickled Oblak's hands.
Socially speaking
How did Twitter react to Ronaldo's latest display?

Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to score in a La Liga match for the 4th game in a row for the first time since 2010. pic.twitter.com/aOikokFYio

- Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 4, 2015

Ronaldo sends 30 yard free kick over the bar.. he's scored just two of his last 83 [!] now...

- Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) October 4, 2015

What did you think about Messi and Ronaldo? Let us know using the hashtag #ESPNFCMessiRonaldo. Plus, tell us who will win this season's scoring battle in our poll.
The next game
After the international break, Ronaldo and Real Madrid host Levante on Oct. 17. Barcelona, without Messi, will entertain Rayo Vallecano on the same day.
The Messi vs. Ronaldo goals projection model
All season long, ESPN FC, in conjunction with ESPN's Stats & Info group, will forecast the scoring battle between Messi and Ronaldo using a specially designed projection model.
Here's an explanation from the model's creator, analytics specialist Zach Bradshaw:
"These projections account for the historical performance (goals scored and minutes played) of the two players since 2010, strength of opposing defences faced (measured by SPI defensive rating), game location, and the potential for injury or missing games. Based on these inputs, the predictor will estimate the chance of each player scoring any number of goals for each remaining game. From this, we can project the total number of goals scored, hat tricks, and the chance of each player accruing more goals than the other over the course of the entire Liga season."
Source:
http://www.espnfc.com