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Following the recent international break, an incredible piece of stat concerning Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has come to light. Both stars, who played one of two games, sitting out the other due to contrasting reasons, trail former United States Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT) player Landon Donovan in international assists.
Ronaldo was busy with Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers. He had no goal contribution in the 1-0 win at Slovakia, where he received a yellow card for a foul on goalkeeper Martin Duvravka. That ruled him out of the 9-0 home win over Luxembourg three days later.
Meanwhile, Messi scored Argentina's winner in their opening FIFA World Cup 2026 win over Ecuador. Having come off early due to fatigue, he was left out of the matchday squad in the 3-0 win at Bolivia, though.
Both Ronaldo and Messi did not record a goal contribution during the recent international break. The Portuguese has 33 assists in 201 international games - which is 10th-best on the all-time list. Meanwhile Messi (53) is tied with Ferenc Puskas in third place.
Brazilian star Neymar (57) is second, one behind Landon Donovan. The American striker racked up that tally in 121 games across competitions for the USMNT between 2000 and 2014. Donovan is his country's joint top goalscorer with 57 goals.
Sandor Kocsis (50), Pele (47), Kevin De Bruyne (45), Mesut Ozil (40), David Beckham (36) complete the top nine, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo.
How have Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fared in international football?
Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been standout performers in international football. Together with Ali Daie, they're the only three players to have scored over 100 goals in men's international football.
Lionel Messi has 104 goals in 176 appearances for Argentina since his senior debut in a 2-1 friendly win at Hungary in 2005. He has scored 29 of those goals (in 61 games) in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, 13 in Copa America (in 34 games) and 13 at the World Cup (26 games). The remaining 49 goals have come in friendlies.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has won the 2021 Copa America, 2022 Finalissima and the 2022 FIFA World Cup with La Albiceleste.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo is the record appearance-maker (201) and record goalscorer (123) in men's international football since his debut in a 1-0 friendly win at home over Kazakhstan in 2003. That tally comprises 36 goals apiece in FIFA World Cup qualifying (47 games) and UEFA Euro qualifying (40 games), respectively, for Portugal.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has also scored a record 14 goals in the Euro finals (in 25 games) and eight times (in 22 games) at the World Cup. Moreover, he has seven goals (in 11 games) in the UEFA Nations League and two in four Confederations Cup games.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the European Champions with Portugal in 2016 and the UEFA Nations League three years later.
