Lionel Messi still has one major award missing from his collection that Cristiano Ronaldo managed 15 years ago

Inter Miami's Lionel Messi is still missing one iconic individual footballing award from his collection that Cristiano Ronaldo managed to achieve 15 years ago.

Ever since Messi won the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 many have considered the long-standing 'GOAT debate' to be over, however, there will always be those who will die on the hill of the Portugal captain being the greatest to ever do it.

I think it's only recently we have started to appreciate what we had in the late 2000s and 2010s, with the rivalry between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland not really following the path many expected.

Ronaldo and Messi single-handedly won their team's trophies and their reliability in the biggest moments is going to be hard to replicate by any player in the future.

Despite Messi's career looking like it may peter out slightly earlier than Ronaldo's, with the Argentine making the move to the MLS at 36 he certainly has taken a choke hold on the individual awards between the pair with eight Ballon d'Or to Ronaldo's five.

However, there is one award Messi is still yet to get his hands on and time is running out for the former Barcelona man.

The Puskas Award is handed out every year to the player who scored the greatest goal of the calendar year and despite his ridiculous catalogue of goals throughout his career, Messi is still yet to win the award.

Ronaldo on the other hand ticked it off his list early on, as he received the inaugural award for his 40-yard screamer for Manchester United against Porto in the 2009 Champions League.

The audacity of the strike continues to blow people's minds with the ball flying like a bullet into the top left-hand corner of the net.

Despite only having one Puskas between them, both Ronaldo and Messi could feel hard done by for not picking up some more along the way.

Messi's 'impossible' solo goal was snubbed in 2015, and Ronaldo's iconic bicycle kick against Juventus missed out to Mo Salah's fairly underwhelming strike against Everton in 2018.

There is still a chance for both to add to their collection with the pair tearing it up in their respective divisions with Ronaldo in particular continuing to find the net with great regularity and skill.

Featured Image Credit: Getty and FIFA

Topics: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, MLS, Barcelona, Champions League

Tom Jenkins

Tom Jenkins is a Social Editor and Journalist for SPORTBible. Specialises in Football and F1 but has experience covering a variety of sports such as MMA, Boxing and Cricket. Suffers weekly as an Evertonian.

@tomjenkns