Messi vs Ronaldo: Two GOATs, two very different endings
For almost two decades, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were the two names at the centre of football's most enduring argument: who was the greatest of all time, the GOAT? Their careers became so intertwined that it feels almost inevitable they are now approaching the end of international football together.
Yet their final chapters are unfolding in strikingly different ways.
Messi is preparing for a farewell with Argentina that feels like a national celebration. Ronaldo has left Portugal's camp after a dispute over his role, leaving his international future uncertain.
On Tuesday, Messi will play his final match for Argentina at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, where around 85,000 supporters are expected to celebrate a career that eventually delivered everything his country had wanted from him: two Copa America titles, the 2022 World Cup and the Finalissima.
The 39-year-old will also leave as Argentina's record appearance-maker and leading scorer, with 207 caps, 125 goals and 68 assists.
Ronaldo's exit has been far less tidy.
The 41-year-old was left on the bench for Portugal's Nations League victory over Norway and then learned he would not start against Denmark. He subsequently left the national-team camp, saying he would explain the reasons for his decision “in time”.
He has not announced his retirement, and coach Jorge Jesus has stressed that the door remains open. Ronaldo can return if he wants to and remains available for selection.
The dispute, then, is not necessarily the end. But it has exposed the difficult question Portugal now face: what should happen when one of the greatest players in their history is no longer an automatic starter?
Jesus' position is straightforward. Ronaldo's reputation cannot decide the line-up. Before the Norway match, the coach said the veteran had accepted that whether he started or came off the bench would be his decision, with the demands of the game determining what happened.
Jesus had even discussed using Ronaldo later in the match. When the game developed differently, he chose not to bring him on.
From a manager's perspective, it is entirely defensible.
From Ronaldo's perspective, it is easier to understand why the situation might feel like a significant change in the relationship he has had with Portugal for so long.
He has spent his career expecting the highest standards from himself and demanding to be involved. He has scored more goals for Portugal than any player in history and helped deliver the country's first major international trophy at Euro 2016. After years of being the unquestioned focal point, being told he is no longer guaranteed a starting place represents a profound shift.
That is where the comparison with Messi becomes interesting.
Argentina also had to confront the reality of an ageing superstar. But Lionel Scaloni found a way to change Messi's role without making the change feel like a rejection of him.
Messi did not have to be the player he had been at Barcelona. Argentina built around what he could still do better than almost anyone else, while teammates increasingly shared the burden he had carried for years.
The timing helped. Messi's late international career coincided with an exceptionally strong Argentina side, and the results were extraordinary: Copa America in 2021, the World Cup in 2022 and another Copa America in 2024.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. It is tempting to turn that into a lesson about how the two players handled ageing, but that would be too simple.
Messi had the luxury of being part of a team that found the right formula. Ronaldo has spent recent years in a Portugal side that has been less settled around him. Fernando Santos and Roberto Martinez continued to rely heavily on him, and his presence remained central even as questions about his effectiveness grew.
At the last two World Cups, Portugal exited before the semi-finals, while Ronaldo's role became increasingly difficult to define.
Jesus has now taken the decision to test Portugal without automatically placing Ronaldo at the centre of everything.
That does not mean Ronaldo is finished, just as Messi's farewell does not mean Argentina's success was inevitable. Ronaldo can still score, remains extraordinarily fit for his age and could yet return to Portugal and make an important contribution. If he does, the current dispute may eventually look like an awkward interruption rather than the beginning of the end.
And if he does not, there is a strong argument that he deserves a proper farewell.
The same is true of Messi. His graceful exit should not obscure how painful his earlier years with Argentina were, when he endured criticism, lost Copa America and World Cup finals and briefly retired from international football. His current farewell has been earned over years of frustration as much as through the trophies that eventually arrived.
That is what makes the contrast so compelling.
Messi's ending feels settled because Argentina found a way to evolve with him. Ronaldo's feels unsettled because Portugal are still working out how to evolve beyond the version of Ronaldo they have known for almost two decades.
Perhaps Ronaldo will return in November and receive the farewell he deserves. Given everything he has done for Portugal, he certainly merits one. But the fact that his exit has arrived through a dispute over selection rather than a planned celebration says something about how differently these two GOATs have navigated the end.
For years, the argument was about who was better. Their final international chapters offer a different comparison: how should a team manage a legend when the legend is no longer the player he once was?
For years, the argument was about who was better. Their final international chapters offer a different comparison: how should a team manage a legend when the legend is no longer the player he once was?
Argentina answered that question by changing around Messi without diminishing him. Portugal are now trying to answer it by changing Ronaldo's role, and he has not accepted that change quietly.
Messi's farewell is therefore about closure. Ronaldo's is still a negotiation. After nearly 20 years of rivalry, that may be the most revealing difference of all.
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