Published: Jun 10, 2022, 05:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 10, 2022, 05:12 PM (IST)
Doha: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the most decorated players in football. They have won almost everything in their career while maintaining remarkable consistency. The only trophy that has eluded them is the FIFA World Cup.
FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is just six months away now and fans are eager to see their top football stars in action in one of the biggest sporting extravaganzas. It might be the last World Cup for both the modern-day legends and they will look to win the trophy before ending their careers.
Both Ronaldo and Messi have played five World Cups so far and will hope to change their fortunes in the fifth one. Fans often debate about who is the greatest footballer of all-time between Ronaldo and Messi. A World Cup trophy might settle that debate once and for all. Let’s take a look at their performances in the World Cup so far to judge who has a better shot at the trophy in the upcoming tournament.
Appearances
Messi came close to winning the World Cup in 2014 when he reached the final of the tournament. He has played 19 matches in the World Cup so far, on the other hand, Ronaldo has played 17 matches. There has only been one instance where one of these two superstars didn’t make it out of the group stage. That was in 2014 when Portugal finished behind Germany and the mighty USA in the group of death.
Ronaldo has won seven matches with Portugal in the tournament, while Messi has clinched 13 victories with Argentina. It is clear that Messi has a better record in the tournament with his team when it comes to winning the matches.
Goals
Ronaldo is leading the charts with seven when it comes to scoring goals in World Cup. Messi is not far behind with six goals. The Portuguese star has scored at all four of his previous World Cups while Messi has scored in three of his four. Both players have had a World Cup where they went off and scored four goals. Ronaldo scored four goals in the last World Cup Messi netted four in Argentina’s run to the final in 2014.
Assists
Messi has always been a better playmaker than Ronaldo and that shows in their assists stats in the World Cup. The Argentine gets about one assist per World Cup, however, in 2018 he doubled that tally with two. On the other hand, Ronaldo only has two assists in the World Cup so far.
Both the players have almost similar stats and anyone can win the upcoming tournament.
