Comparing Messi & Ronaldo’s World Cup records: Goals, assists…

The Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo debate has dominated football for the last 15 years – but how do their World Cup records compare?

Both players made their World Cup debuts in Germany 2006, making them two of only five players from that tournament to be competing in Qatar too.

However, while Ronaldo achieved glory with Portugal in the 2016 Euros and Messi won the Copa America with Argentina in 2021, World Cup glory has always managed to escape them.

Messi came closest to winning the World Cup in 2014, when he guided Argentina all the way to the final, only to narrowly lose out to Germany. The Argentine won the Golden Ball for his efforts in 2014, but the biggest prize just slipped away from him.

The furthest Ronaldo has ever progressed in the tournament actually came in his first World Cup in 2006. Portugal made it all the way to the semi-finals, only to narrowly lose 1-0 to France when Zinedine Zidane's first-half penalty sent Portugal home empty-handed.

Ronaldo was a star of the 2006 World Cup, which will forever be infamous for his wink after fellow United team-mate Wayne Rooney was sent off, but perhaps his finest World Cup moment came in Russia 2018 when he scored a last-minute free-kick against Spain to round off his hat-trick.

While neither Messi nor Ronaldo have won the tournament, they do hold some very impressive records. After scoring at the 2022 tournament, Ronaldo became the first player to have ever scored at five different World Cups. Messi soon matched him against Mexico and became the first player to assist a goal at five separate World Cups.

But who's best? Well, if you want to watch five goats deciding who's the football GOAT – Diego Maradona, Pele and Zinedine Zidane are also in the reckoning – then you're in luck because that's exactly what Betway have ridiculously superbly set up.

But if you're boring and won't take the view of five goats as gospel, we've crunched the numbers to see exactly how their World Cup records compare.

Lionel Messi

Games: 21

Starts: 19

Sub appearances: 2

Goals: 8

Assists: 6

Penalties scored: 1

Minutes per goal: 225.6

Minutes per non-penalty goal: 257.9

Minutes per goal or assist: 128.9

World Cups: Five

2006: Three appearances, one goal, one assist. Quarter-final.

2010: Five appearances, no goals, one assist. Quarter-final.

2014: Seven appearances, four goals, one assist. Runner-up.

2018: Four appearances, one goal, two assists. Round of 16.

2022: Two appearances, one goal, one assist – TBC

Cristiano Ronaldo

Games: 19

Starts: 19

Sub appearances: 0

Goals: 8

Assists: 2

Penalties scored: 3

Minutes per goal: 205.5

Minutes per non-penalty goal: 328.8

Minutes per goal or assist: 164.4

World Cups: Five

2006: Six appearances, one goal, no assists, Semi-final

2010: Four appearances, one goal, one assist, Round of 16

2014: Three appearances, one goal, one assist, Group Stages

2018: Four appearances, four goals, no assists, Round of 16

2022: Two appearances, one goal, no assists – TBC