CRISTIANO Ronaldo and Lionel Messi do not seem to be going away quietly. At least, not yet. The duo might have left Europe to play in the Middle East and North America respectively in the twilight of their careers, but even at a World Cup that should be their swansong, 41-year-old Ronaldo and 39-year-old Messi are still among the headline acts — and continue to set records and an example in football longevity. When Ronaldo scored twice in Portugal’s 5-0 rout of Uzbekistan, after a listless performance in his team’s opener against the Democratic Republic of Congo, he became the first player to score at six different World Cups. Messi is the only other man to have featured in six World Cups but failed to score for Argentina in the 2010 edition. He, however, became the tournament’s all-time top-scorer when he showed his class with two goals against Austria, coming after a hat-trick in Argentina’s triumph against Algeria. Messi now has 18 tournament goals, eight more than Ronaldo. And unlike Messi, Ronaldo, who became the second-oldest player to score at a World Cup, has never lifted the trophy. Messi got his hands on the trophy four years ago in Qatar to edge ahead of Ronaldo in the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ debate between the two; this may be the last opportunity for his Portuguese rival to include a title in his incredible list of honours.

While the likes of Kylian Mbappe of France and Norway’s Erling Haaland have also set the tournament alight, the crucial question is whether Messi and Ronaldo will face off at a World Cup — with the quarter-final being the earliest Portugal and Argentina can meet. That potential clash is still some way off, but it will be a fitting conclusion to their reign if it happens at this World Cup: two greats of the modern game coming up against each other to decide who comes out on top of football’s greatest individual rivalry.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2026