Figure 1 Not many players are able to continue winning titles at Ronaldo's age - Source: Pixabay
When it comes to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it is always very easy to instantly compare the two in an attempt to determine which superstar is the best. Both players have won in club and international colors – and have usually been the main reason why their team has been triumphant.
It is true that only Messi has been successful at a World Cup, although Ronaldo’s European Championship win – and to a lesser extent, Nations League title – just about evens up the score on that front. There has also been a lot of success at club level and that is what these two ultimately have in common.
For a while, Messi’s success was concentrated on one club, compared to Ronaldo’s more globe-trotting career. The Argentinian left his home country as a teenager, of course, and he went on to graduate quickly through the famed youth sector there before becoming one of the greatest ever to play at the Camp Nou.
Ronaldo also left his home town in Madeira at an early age, with the bright lights of Lisbon as his destination. But it probably says something about the relative strength of the Portuguese league that his talent was too much to contain. He soon moved to Manchester United in the EPL and really became a global superstar.
By the time Messi finally left Barcelona, something he thought he would never do, Ronaldo had already played for Real Madrid, before arriving in Turin at Juventus. While the former was winning league titles (although, most noticeably, not a Champions League), the latter had ended his time in Italy and returned to Old Trafford in an attempt for the club to regain the glory years that Ronaldo had been a part of in the first place.
There are a lot of aspects of both players’ careers that will go down as all-important but the longevity is something that really stands out. Remarkably, there were questions about how much longer Messi would play when he moved to Paris in 2021 and the same concerns were raised when Ronaldo returned to Manchester United at the beginning of the same season. It seems incredible now, considering both have gone on to win more honors at both club and international level.
Messi moved to PSG as part of their ongoing attempt to win the biggest prize in European football using the galactico method. It is somewhat ironic that the Parisian club finally won the Champions League after all those mega-stars had left and a new strategy of recruiting younger, usually French, players was introduced. Even Ronaldo couldn’t do anything about the fall of Manchester United and now both players are performing in other leagues – and bringing both more international recognition.
With Messi winning more honors at Inter Miami and Ronaldo bringing glory to Al-Nassr, it is this late-career success that is of interest here. Neither club was a particular force in their respective leagues before Messi and Ronaldo’s arrival but now are regularly challenging for trophies. Messi has usurped David Beckham as the most influential arrival in the history of Major League Soccer, inspiring other top footballers to follow him to the US. Ronaldo has performed the same trick for the Saudi Pro League. If anything, his move has been more of a game changer, as there was very little movement to the Middle East previously.
Since Messi moved to Florida, he has won a Leagues Cup, a competition for both MLS and Liga MX teams, but fell just short of winning the MLS Cup – the ultimate prize in the US league. Ronaldo has similarly been unable to bring a league title to Al-Nassr but has led his team to an Arab Club Champions Cup triumph. More importantly, as far as persona legacies go, there has been late career international success for both players too, Messi finally proved his few remaining doubters wrong by lifting the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, while Ronaldo – having already won the European Championship – has most recently won the Nations League with his Portugal side.
Figure 2 Messi's success is still celebrated at Barcelona - Source: Unsplash
With Ronaldo now 40 and Messi nearing that milestone, the most interesting thing to look out for will be whether either of them will be able to keep on winning more trophies. Ronaldo has not been as influential on the field for his Portugal team – although he is still a huge presence – while Messi is still the most important player in the Argentina starting eleven, even though there are plenty of other top talents pulling on the famous sky blue and white jersey.
Injuries will probably be the only thing that stops both these generational talents from winning trophies in the future. Ronaldo would seem to be in a better position here, with his incredible level of fitness belying his age, while Messi has missed more games in the last few seasons with smaller ailments. Even then, he has been able to come back and win trophies.
There are players, like Lamine Yamal and Jamal Musiala, who have won lots of titles already and are still so young. But even these great talents may not reach the heights that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have managed. It is one (very impressive) thing to be playing for one of the world’s top clubs at such an early age and winning titles, but time will tell if their careers end up being as remarkable. The longevity and late-career success of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is sometimes forgotten when it comes to celebrating their genius. But it might just be what turns out to prove that they were the greatest of all time.