Madrid, Sep 10: Reigning La Liga champions FC Barcelona are more popular than Real Madrid while Portugal football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is more searched online than Argentine icon Lionel Messi.

Globally, Barcelona accumulated more searches with 42 points on Google than Real Madrid (39 points), according to a study by Cuponation.es, reports Efe. [La Liga 2016-17: Schedule of Game week 3]

As for social networks, Barcelona have 94 million followers on Facebook compared to 92 million for the capital side, while the Catalan team's Twitter followers (35.7 million) also got past Real Madrid (33 million).

Moreover, the study also reveals data in the geographic area: Europe, France and Portugal have greater interest in Madrid; but Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy are more interested in Barcelona.

Asia is dominated by the Madrid club, while in the Arab region Barcelona have greater significance.

As for Ronaldo and Messi, the Portuguese star has more interest in him throughout Europe and Asia, except in Japan where Messi is more popular.

However, the Argentine star striker beats the Madrid player in American Spanish-speaking countries.

IANS