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Stat Shows Cristiano Ronaldo Carries Portugal More Than Lionel Messi Carries Argentina

Stat Shows Cristiano Ronaldo Carries Portugal More Than Lionel Messi Carries Argentina

Messi failed to inspire the national team to a win in Argentina's opening Copa America game against Colombia on Saturday night.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

It's thought that Lionel Messi has to carry Argentina and that's why it's so difficult for him to win trophies with the national team but the stats suggest that's not totally true.

The one point of discussion that Lionel Messi fans face whenever they're arguing whether their man or Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest in the world is to do with international football.

Whilst the Barcelona forward has won everything at club level he's never won an international trophy, whilst Ronaldo has won two.

It's long been thought that it's because Messi has to carry his team but the stats prove that more of his teammates contribute to Argentina than Ronaldo's do to Portugal.

It's certainly not for want of trying for Messi when it comes to international honours. Despite 'retiring' once, before returning several months later, Argentina have been to three recent finals with Messi in the team.

At the 2014 World Cup they lost in extra time to Germany in the final and then lost on penalties to Chile in the Copa America final, in both 2015 and 2016.

After the second loss the 31 year old decided to call it a day, before returning in time for the end of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and scored a hat-trick in the last game to help his country qualify when it looked like they would miss out.

Ronaldo meanwhile recently added his second international trophy in the last three years, with Portugal winning the UEFA Nations League.

The Juventus forward took a break after last summer's World Cup and wasn't involved in any of the group games to qualify for the semi finals.

He returned on home soil and scored a hat-trick against Switzerland to confirm their place in the final, although he was quiet against Netherlands with Goncalo Guedes scoring the only goal.

Ronaldo lifts the Nations League trophy. Image: PA Images
Ronaldo lifts the Nations League trophy. Image: PA Images

Messi's chances of turning round his fortunes took a blow on Saturday night. In Argentina's opener in this year's Copa America they lost 2-0 to Colombia.

They still have Qatar and Paraguay to play, starting with the latter on Wednesday.

Will Messi finally win some international silverware?

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Topics: Football News, Barcelona, Nations League, Lionel Messi, Portugal, Juventus, Argentina, Copa America, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid