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Lionel Messi simply cannot stop scoring for Argentina, but Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo has more international goals than his arch-rival.
Messi scored a stunning hat-trick in Argentina’s 7-0 routing of Curacao in a friendly on Tuesday (March 28) night. The 57th treble of his career took Messi’s international goal tally to 102 in 174 games, making him the third player in men’s football history to cross the coveted 100-goal milestone. Moreover, the Argentina icon has also pitched in with 55 assists.
Only two players have scored more international goals than Messi: Iranian legend Ali Daei and Portugal’s captain extraordinaire Cristiano Ronaldo. While the now-retired Daei has 109 international goals (149 games), Ronaldo has a record 122 goals. Additionally, with 198 appearances in international football, Ronaldo is the most-capped player in men’s international football history.
Cristiano Ronaldo also has the edge when it comes to career goals scored. While the Al-Nassr superstar has netted 832 goals in 1157 appearances for club and country, Paris Saint-Germain attacker Lionel Messi has 803 goals in 1018 games.
Coming to hat tricks, Messi is still quite a few trebles shy of matching Ronaldo’s numbers. Messi has 57 career hat-tricks, while the Real Madrid legend has 62. Messi has nine hat-tricks for Argentina, while Ronaldo has 10 for Portugal.
Renowned journalist Julio Maldonado makes pick between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi
Spanish journalist Julio Maldonado has said that Messi is a better player than his arch-rival Ronaldo.
Better known as “Maldini”, Maldonado admitted that Ronaldo is an excellent marksman and a top professional but that Messi has more talent. Speaking at an event in Malaga, he said (via MARCA):
“My opinion is that Messi is better than Cristiano. I think Cristiano is a fantastic player, and he deserves to win Ballon d'Ors in Messi's time. Physically, he's wonderful; he has a fantastic strike, a professional with capital letters, but as a talent, Messi seems better to me to understand the game.”
Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have redefined greatness, for which they will remain eternal. While the former has more goals, Messi has the edge in terms of personal accolades and international trophies.
There's simply no wrong answer when choosing between the pair, as they're the two most celebrated and arguably greatest players of their generation.
