Both Messi and Ronaldo seem to be at the end of their international careers this week, but there is a very different feeling in both camps.
Messi is retiring, again. Yet another celebratory match for Argentina in this international break but this time it must surely be for good, at the age he is and for the narrative arc that has come in the last few years. He finally won the World Cup, the Copas America were won and he's found glory in MLS too. Over in Europe, the player that he has always been compared to, Cristiano Ronaldo, might also be at the end of his international career. His, however, is a different story, a bruised ego that has stormed out mid camp after the indignity of being an unused substitute in a Nations League match in Oslo.
Is there a good way to retire from international football? Has Ronaldo chosen the worst possible way to do so?
Messi and Ronaldo. The two best players of all time by most people’s reckoning. They’ve been around for over two decades, won countless individual and team honours, from pretty much every Ballon d’Or in that time to domestic league and cup titles and international trophies. They’ve scored hundreds and hundreds of goals, achieved impossible results and performances, and remained at the top of the game the entire time. No one else has come close, they were clear of everyone, but old father time comes for us all and at international level at least the end is here for both.
At club level they’ve seen it all. They were both labelled a wonderkid in youth circles, and made their debuts at young ages. Messi was part of the famous MSN at Barcelona, winning titles and the Champions League alongside Suarez and Neymar, and before that a rotating cast of the best in the world. Ronaldo was part of the BBC at Real Madrid alongside Bale and Benzema. El Clásico every season when the two were involved was the elite, the cream of the crop facing off, there was drama and matches that really mattered in every competition. It’s a golden era to look back on.
At international level things were different. Argentina were perennial underachievers having failed to win an international trophy since 1993. Messi was the best in the world at club level but could never quite get his country over the line at international level. For Argentina it was Maradona (or for the older generations Di Stéfano), Messi was just the player who had left Argentina for Barcelona as a child, had never played for an Argentine club and there was never the same feeling of love for him. That started to change after Argentina lost the World Cup final to Germany in 2014 and saw how much it meant to him, and after a couple of failed retirements, Messi led Argentina to two Copas America and the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. He’s even managed to carry on for longer with success, banging in the goals for Inter Miami and taking Argentina to another World Cup final in 2026.
His final match, a friendly against Benin. It might seem a strange choice, but it’s all about the celebration around Messi, the Little Flea, a party in Buenos Aires. He’s completed football and deserves the accolades.
For Ronaldo, things are a little different. He’s had the same level of success at club level for sure, and at international level Portugal have won the Euros (although the bulk of the work in the final was done after Ronaldo went off injured) and two Nations League titles. Ronaldo has been ever present because he demands it. Every coach and manager knows that if they drop Ronaldo, they will lose their job. He probably should have been an impact substitute or less for quite some time now, but he starts every game and Portugal are worse for it in many people’s eyes. He’s chasing 1,000 goals and it’s always been about his ego rather than the team, that’s been pretty clear for some time.
Things have finally come to a head with new Portugal boss Jorge Jesus. He’s managed Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia at Al-Nassr and they had a good relationship. Ronaldo started this Nations League campaign at home to Wales, fluffing chance after chance, having a goal disallowed for offside, and generally stinking the place out. For the following match away to Norway, he was left on the bench for the entire 90. He saw it as an indignity to warm up for half hour and not come on, and at the final whistle he picked up his bags and went home, literally. Walked straight down the tunnel without applauding the travelling away fans or congratulating his teammates, who had won the match by the way.
His petulant side showed up once again, making it all about him instead of thinking logically that this is a new international break with four matches over a short space of time, he’s in his 40s, he can’t play every game and expect to stay at the same standard he would have done ten years ago, it’s only natural. Portugal look much more fluid in attack and effective without him, beating Denmark away 4-2 before Rafael Leão took the number 7 shirt for the next game, a 2-1 win at home against Norway.
Ronaldo has said he will one day tell the truth about what’s happened. Jesus has said it is down to Ronaldo if he wants to play for his national team again. Instead of a celebratory final match in Lisbon, Ronaldo has left the international stage via the back door. The difference between him and Messi couldn’t be starker.
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