Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are 40 and 38 years old: both have been out of Europe since 2023, have multi-year contracts (in Saudi Arabia and the United States), and aim to play in the 2026 World Cup (but will retire later). And both stood out on Sunday for what they still know how to do on the football field. Ronaldo scored an overhead kick goal that was reminiscent of the goal he scored in 2018 against Juventus, when he played for Real Madrid. Messi scored one goal and three assists in one game, bringing his team, Inter Miami, closer to the possibility of winning MLS, the North American soccer championship, which ends on December 6.
Meanwhile, both Ronaldo and Messi (more precisely as a consequence) ended up in the middle of much bigger events than football, which not only concern them, but also the facts and relations between the countries where they play and in which they have great economic interests. Ronaldo was recently Donald Trump’s guest at the White House with Saudi Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman’s delegation. Messi, best known for his role as spokesman for the Saudi tourism board, instead appeared in a Democratic Party video.
But before continuing, here is Ronaldo’s bicycle kick which was shown in many shots and was scored in stoppage time, when his team, Al Nassr, was already leading 3-1.
And four goals that saw Inter Miami qualify for the MLS Conference finals. Messi headed the goal – something very unusual for him – to make it 1-0, and then scored his claws (Especially the left) in the remaining goals made three assists.
Like other North American championships, the Conference final is effectively a semi-final. They are played in one match and whoever wins will advance to the final. The Inter Miami match will be the Eastern Conference final and will be held on November 29th against New York City FC.
Inter Miami has been around since 2020 and has never reached the playoffs so far. Before Messi’s arrival they had finished in 27th place in the regular season standings (the part before the playoffs). Last year they came in first, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. This year is going very well: in the last two matches they have scored 8 goals and conceded 0. Since the start of the playoffs, Inter Miami has scored 12 goals: in each of them Messi either scored or assisted.
And it’s not just about goals and assists: Javier Mascherano, Messi’s former teammate and now coach of Inter Miami (a team full of Messi’s friends and former teammates), said about him: «He leads the team in defense with his high pressing». In reality, Messi doesn’t run much, especially when he has to snatch the ball from an opponent’s feet, but it is true that – as seen in the penultimate goal above – he shows great determination and significant team spirit.
Above all, as always, what amazes Messi – even in a championship with a slower pace and a lower level than the main European ones – is the precision and vision of his play, which Athletics he defined it as his «supernatural ability to find space to release the ball». In his team’s last seven games, Messi has made 11 goals and 11 assists, an average of one goal every 28.6 minutes.
Then there’s 40-year-old Ronaldo, whose Al-Nassr is in first place in the Saudi Pro League, which functions like Italy’s Serie A (i.e. without playoffs). After nine days, Al-Nassr achieved full points, scoring 30 goals and conceding 5 goals. Of the 30 goals, 10 were scored by Ronaldo and the other 10 by Joao Felix, his compatriot and former Atlético Madrid, Benfica, Chelsea and Milan player.
Cristiano Ronaldo on November 23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Abdullah Ahmed/Getty Images)
Even in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo is still Ronaldo: he gets angry at his teammates if he doesn’t pass the ball, protests to the referee if he doesn’t call a foul, and celebrates every goal with great enthusiasm and not a little scenography by shouting “siuuum!”.
Of course, Al Khaleej (the team against whom Ronaldo scored an overhead kick) is not Juventus and Moris, the Luxembourg team’s goalkeeper is not Gigi Buffon, against whom Ronaldo scored an overhead kick in 2018. But the goal – despite being scored in stoppage time and victory now achieved – is objectively important, and also in many ways similar to the one scored against Juventus, in that it was the decisive goal in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The goal against Al Khaleej was the 954th goal scored by Ronaldo: considering that between club and national team he continues to score 40-50 per season, it is not impossible for him to reach 1000, one of his targets. Another goal, bigger and more ambitious, was to win the World Cup with Portugal, which Messi managed to do in 2022 with Argentina (a much stronger team); With Portugal Ronaldo won the European Championship in 2016 and then two Nations Leagues, a less prestigious tournament.
Recently, alongside Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (whom he defines as his “boss”), Ronaldo was a guest at the White House and spoke with Trump.
One consequence is that, although over the years Messi has been careful to avoid any kind of explicit political position (in Argentina, Spain or in the world), the US Democratic Party has tried to respond to the closeness between Trump and Ronaldo, with a video about Messi.
These are themes that are sure to re-emerge in the coming months, given that along with Canada and Mexico, the United States will host the World Cup, and given how Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, has grown closer to Trump.
And like every time we talk about Ronaldo and Messi from 2023 onwards, even after their recent goals (and assists), we are talking about the value of the two championships they played in. In general – even based on in-depth data – MLS is considered a better league than the Saudi Pro League, even though both are far from the best tournaments in Europe. According to data from analytics company Opta, MLS is the 12th championship in the world and the Saudi Pro League 29th, worse for the moment even compared to the Italian Serie B.
Given their value and weight in the history of football and their respective national teams, it is almost impossible to think that Messi and Ronaldo will not be called up to the World Cup, which will be the sixth World Cup for both. In recent years, Messi is the one of the two who has looked more useful for the national teams he plays for. Ronaldo, moreover, was sent off in his final match with Portugal for now, and therefore had to miss the start of the World Cup due to disqualification. Both currently have contracts beyond the World Cup: Ronaldo until 2027 and Messi until 2028. Meanwhile, neither of them has ever won a first title outside Europe.
– Read also: Where did Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump’s friendship come from?
