Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have headlined El Clasico, world football’s biggest match, for the better part of a decade. But with both superstars absent from Sunday’s blockbuster, LiveScore reveals just how influential the pair have been for Real Madrid and Barcelona.

London, UK -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/25/2018 --Sunday's El Clasico will mark the first time since 2007 that neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will feature in football's biggest club match, and data analysed by LiveScore has proven just how influential the two superstars have been in the marquee fixture.

Ronaldo's £99 million summer transfer from Real Madrid to Italian giants Juventus brought an end to his direct rivalry with Barcelona superstar Messi. The duo went head-to-head while playing for Spain's biggest clubs for nine years following Ronaldo's arrival from Manchester United in the summer of 2009.

But with Ronaldo no longer at the Bernabeu, and Messi out injured after suffering an arm fracture last week in a match against Sevilla, new faces will have to step up to fill the titanic voids of the two superstars who have each won the Ballon d'Or on five occasions.

Analysis conducted using LiveScore data reveals just how dominant Ronaldo and Messi have been in the Real Madrid versus Barcelona fixture over the past decade. Since Los Blancos signed the Portuguese, Ronaldo has scored an astonishing 38.3% of Real Madrid's Clasico goals across 32 matches in all competitions.

Messi, despite playing alongside prolific scorers including Thierry Henry, David Villa and Luis Suarez, is not far behind his counterpart, scoring 33.9% of Barcelona's total goals in the same time period.

In further proof of their importance to their sides during this time, the influence of Ronaldo and Messi increased in away matches, according to data collected by LiveScore.

When playing at Real Madrid's famed Santiago Bernabeu, Lionel Messi contributed 43.3% of Barcelona's goals, while Ronaldo returned the favour at Camp Nou, registering a staggering 48.2% of the Galacticos' away strikes.

Messi boasts a win advantage over his rival, with 14 wins to Ronaldo's 10 in El Clasico ties since the Portuguese arrived, and if you were to remove each player's goals from the equation, the Argentine continues to shine brightest. Taking the pair's goals out of the fixture since 2009 would see the Blaugrana's win tally drop from 14 wins to 11 - suggesting Barcelona's reliance on Messi is greater than Real Madrid's on Ronaldo.

You can follow the latest instalment of El Clasico live on LiveScore, the world's largest football live score service with over 40 million monthly users. Fans can keep track of the match with live commentary and push notification alerts for goals, half-time and full-time results.

LiveScore CEO Derren Maggs says El Clasico is one of the most followed sporting events on the platform each year and a hugely exciting time for football fans.

"Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two biggest teams in world football and their intense matches draw the attentions of hundreds of millions of people across the globe. We're expecting more of the same this year – even without the injured Messi and the departed Ronaldo," he said.

You can download the main LiveScore app from the App Store for iOS devices and the Play Store for Android devices, or keep up-to-date with the latest scores and news by following LiveScore on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.