For 21 entire squads worth 3m coins in total, players can choose between a TOTY HM version of either Ronaldo or Messi. Most of the time, it would be an easy decision since you would obviously pick which of two GOATs you like more. But, for 3m coins, personal preference needs to be set aside because that’s A LOT of fodder.
Here’s the best choice between both Messi and Ronaldo when it comes to the TOTY HM player pick SBC, along with our points for why you should pick one or the other. If you don’t have nearly enough fodder to complete this SBC, like most other players, you can get FC 26 coins from LootBar to easily complete all 21 squads.
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Lionel Messi’s TOTY HM Card
The Messi card you get from this SBC looks absolutely amazing at first glance. He’s got 4 positions (RW, CAM, RM, and ST), with Roles++ on each one. He also has 90 Pace, Shooting, Passing, and 94 Dribbling. Anyone with experience using Messi knows how good his left stick dribbling feels, and his R1 dribbling on this card is insane too because of the Technical+.
His second Playstyle+ is Finesse+, which makes his finishing feel broken too. His outside the box finesse shots feel genuinely glitched with how often they go top bins, and that’s not even the start of it. He’s so good at playmaking because of the high passing stat combined with base Incisive and Tiki Taka. He also has 5* Weak Foot which is an obvious bonus. Other than that, base Quick Step helps with his 90 Pace, which isn’t THAT high, especially for a RW or ST at this stage of the game.
Why Should (or Shouldn’t) You Choose Messi’s Card?
This card is crazy good at CAM. The Technical+, the Finesse+, Shadow Striker++, the passing and playstyles, the dribbling- everything is perfect for a central playmaker. His 5* Weak Foot combined with all this make him amazing at creating chances out wide or playing through balls to a faster striker. He doesn’t have base Long Ball but his lobbed through balls out to the wing or over defenders in the middle are perfect nearly every time, just like in real life. For carrying the ball forward and playing your faster attackers through, there aren’t many better cards in the game.
But, despite all this, Messi’s card is easily the less popular pick between the two by far, and there’s a good reason for that. His stats look great and he has all those positions with Roles++. But, he actually can’t do much in most of them. For 3m coins, there are way better and faster RWs/RMs out there, and FC players know just how important pace is on the wings.
For the striker position, his stats and playstyles are great, but his low physicality and body type will make him an easy target for any defender with Bruiser. He unfortunately doesn’t have the jammy physicality of Pina or the raw strength of taller cards to hold off defenders. As a CAM though, there’s no mistaking that this card is one of the best in the game for dribbling, playmaking, and finishing. He’s perfect in the Shadow Striker role, so definitely pick him if you need a new CAM in your team and prefer Messi in real life.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s TOTY HM Card
Ronaldo’s card is much more focused on shooting and physicality compared to Messi’s, to the surprise of no one. He’s got 90 Pace, 93 Shooting, 82 Passing, 89 Dribbling, and 83 Physicality. But, his right stick dribbling is way better than Messi’s despite the stat difference because Ronaldo has 5* Skill Moves and base Trickster on his card.
As for his pace, it feels a lot faster because of the taller build, and since he has Rapid+. He’s also easily one of the top shooters in the entire game, and that’s made even better with Finesse+. He’s also got base Low Driven, Incisive to help with playmaking despite low passing, and Aerial Fortress for aerial knock-ons to your wingers. This Ronaldo card only has 4* Weak Foot, but he’s also got base Gamechanger to compensate for that with Trivela shooting.
Why Should (or Shouldn’t) You Choose Ronaldo’s Card?
With great pace and right stick dribbling, amazing shooting, good physicality, and that selection of Playstyles. this Ronaldo card is a perfect meta striker. His build feels a lot better in game too. That’s because tall, fast, physical attackers with broken animations and great dribbling are rarer. His main job is running through defences and putting the ball in the back of the net. He’s perfect at both of those things, and his jank almost justifies the huge 3m price tag.
The only real negative to this card is that he doesn’t have 5* Weak Foot, which is absurd given Ronaldo’s real life goal scoring record with his left foot. And also the fact that ST is the only position on the card. He has no secondary positions, not even LW. But, the card itself is perfectly suited to the striker position, so that’s not a huge issue. Pick Ronaldo if you need a new finisher as this card is way better than Messi’s in the striker position.
For the price tag and putting personal biases aside, Ronaldo seems like the only card out of these two to truly justify that 3m SBC price. There aren’t many strikers out there better than him for less than that. But, there are many RWs and CAMs better than Messi for that price, like Thunderstruck Bale, Time Warp Garrincha, TOTY Pedri, and others. If you want any of those alternate options or enough fodder to complete this SBC and pick Ronaldo or Messi, go to LootBar to get any FC 26 players easily.
Conclusion
Our personal pick for this SBC is Ronaldo because of his build, playstyles, and just overall justification of the 3m price tag. But, Messi isn’t a bad pick by any means if you still want to go with him. If you run out of fodder while completing this huge SBC though, buy FC 26 coins from LootBar to get more from the market and complete the player pick!
