In the world of soccer, a long-standing debate that has been going on even till now is Messi versus Ronaldo. Both players are their country’s respective top goalscorers and have helped their nation lift major silverware.
Lionel Messi currently ranks second in all-time international goals scored with a tally of 106 in 178 appearances. Lionel Messi is also the highest-scoring South American on international soil with his first goal coming up against Croatia in 2005. In the 2006 World Cup, Messi’s goal against Serbia and Montenegro made him the youngest Argentine to score in the World Cup.
10 Sep 2021:
Messi celebrates Copa America victory with 🇦🇷 by scoring a hat-trick to take his tally to 7️⃣9️⃣ and surpass Pele’s goals for a SA nation.23 Mar 2023:
Messi to celebrate World Cup victory with 🇦🇷 and can reach a tally of 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ in international football. pic.twitter.com/PGzBHHKZU7— MC (@CrewsMat10) March 23, 2023
In 2021, Messi surpassed Pele’s goal record of 79 goals and also is the first South American in the history of international soccer to reach the tally of 100 goals.
Lionel Messi has 9 international hattricks to his name and in 2022 against Estonia, the Argentine scored 5 goals for the first time in his international colours. In the Copa America Messi has registered 13 goals, winning it in 2021. He also has 13 goals in the World Cup main rounds, which is the highest by any Argentine, and even 2 goals in the final which helped Argentina lift their third World Cup.
49 goals out of 106 have come from friendlies and Messi’s last goal for Argentina was against South American Nation Peru in the Conmebol qualifiers for the World Cup. But despite being the highest-ever South American scorer, the man from Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo leads the worldwide charts by a tally of 21 goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals for Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo is an icon in Portuguese football. Having made his debut back in 2003, the Al Nassr frontman is still going strong after 203 appearances for his nation which makes him the most capped player in the history of Portugal.
Cristiano is the highest scorer in the history of international football having scored 127 goals to date with his last goal coming up against Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Ronaldo’s first goal for Portugal came against eventual champions Greece in the 2004 Euros.
Cristiano Ronaldo going past Ferenc Puskas’ international goals tally at the FIFA World Cup 2018. pic.twitter.com/Cpn3nyB9xW
— TCR. (@TeamCRonaldo) November 10, 2022
In 2014 Ronaldo scored his first international hat trick and to date has increased his tally of hattricks to 10. He has also scored 4 goals in a match for Portugal on two separate occasions. In 2018, he surpassed Puskas as the all-time top European goalscorer and in 2021 Ronaldo surpassed Ali Daei’s record’s most international goals recorded.
Since turning 30 in 2015, Cristiano Ronaldo has surpassed the top scorers of 197 nations, including Germany, Uruguay, Ivory Coast, Sweden, England, Spain, USA, Cameroon, France, Mexico, Chile, and Netherlands, with his impressive tally of 73 international goals for Portugal. pic.twitter.com/3Ttq4pEKOi
— ARSENAL FANS 🇳🇬 (@ArsenalFanz9ja) October 16, 2023
Cristiano has scored in all of the 12 major tournaments he has participated in with Portugal, a feat that even Lionel Messi can’t boast about. Ronaldo has 14 goals in the Euros and 8 goals in the World Cup though all of them have come from the group stages.
For the time being Ronaldo seems far from retirement and will play at least till 2026 so his record might increase to over 130 goals in no time. Nonetheless, after his retirement, it will be a gargantuan task for any player to even reach close to Ronaldo’s tally of international goals.