Lionel Messi finally has a clear advantage over his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, after winning the World Cup in 2022.
Barcelona legend and current Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina talisman Messi is 35, while evergreen Ronaldo was until recently starring for Manchester United in the Premier League and is still featuring for Portugal on the world stage at the age of 37.
The 2022 World Cup is likely to be the final time we see the two superstar strikers on the biggest stage of all, and Messi has finally repeated the feat of the likes of Pele and Diego Maradona by lifting the famous World Cup trophy.
Messi and Ronaldo both made their World Cup debuts in 2006, let’s see how they’ve gotten on over the years.
Messi’s career at the World Cup
Prior to finally winning the title in 2022 after a penalty shootout victory over France, Messi had previously gone closest to winning the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, when Argentina were beaten in the final by Germany after he had scored four goals in seven games in the tournament.
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was particularly frustrating for Messi: he failed to score a single goal as Argentina were knocked out in the quarterfinals, and he managed a solitary strike at the 2006 and 2018 editions.
Barca’s all-time top scorer is known for performing on the big stage — he is routinely prolific in the Champions League — but had never scored in a match after the Round of 16 stage at the World Cup.
That was until the 2022 tournament, when a brilliant piece of play saw him open the scoring against Australia.
Messi’s next two goals came via penalties: he scored one in the quarterfinal against the Netherlands — as well as netting from 12 yards in the shootout — and he broke the deadlock from the spot in the semifinal against Croatia.
In the final, he scored twice more, as Argentina went on to lift the trophy in sensational fashion.
| World Cup | Stage Eliminated | Messi games | Messi goals |
| 2006 | Quarterfinals | 3 | 1 |
| 2010 | Quarterfinals | 5 | 0 |
| 2014 | Final | 7 | 4 |
| 2018 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 |
| 2022 | Winners | 7 | 7 |
MORE: Messi schedule 2022: When and how to watch PSG & Argentina fixtures
Ronaldo’s career at the World Cup
Although he won Euro 2016 with Portugal, Ronaldo has also endured a World Cup career well short of the spectacular standards he has set in club competitions.
Ronaldo has scored at every World Cup he has been involved in. As is the case with Messi, though, his overall scoring record at the finals is modest: eight goals in 19 appearances.
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The closest Ronaldo has come to World Cup glory was in his first involvement in the tournament in 2006, when Portugal lost to France in the semi-finals in Germany. Since then, Portugal have underperformed overall, and that culminated in a 1-0 quarter-final loss to Morocco at the 2022 World Cup.
| World Cup | Stage Eliminated | Ronaldo games | Ronaldo goals |
| 2006 | Semifinals | 6 | 1 |
| 2010 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 |
| 2014 | Group stages | 3 | 1 |
| 2018 | Round of 16 | 4 | 4 |
| 2022 | Quarterfinal | 5 | 1 |
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