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Lionel Messi scored his seventh international hat-trick as Argentina thrashed Curacao 7-0 in a home friendly. As sensational as that sounds, the hat-trick wasn't the most sensational feat; the real deal was Messi passing the 100 international goals mark; now with 102 international goals. He is now the third player in history to achieve that feat. The first two are Cristiano Ronaldo with 122 goals and Iran's Ali Daei with 109 goals. Messi is the first South American male player to hit the 100 international goals mark. Brazil's Marta holds the record for females with 109 international goals. It only took Messi one half to net all three goals at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades. His first came from a Giovani Lo Celso assist, in the 20th minute; Messi's second was scored 13 minutes later, assisted by Fiorentina's Nicolas Gonzalez. Argentina's second goal was scored by Gonzalez. Lo Celso once more gave Messi a pass for his third goal. Messi also set up Enzo Fern...

On Saturday, November 19 2022, football fans worldwide were blown away by a photo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing chess.  Both Messi and Ronaldo took to Instagram to share the picture, which sees the legendary duo playing chess on Louis Vuitton briefcases. Messi equally shared the picture on his Facebook page. The picture went viral pretty fast on Instagram, racking up more than 10 million likes across Ronaldo and Messi's accounts in just over 30 minutes. Both players captioned the photo "Victory is a State of Mind." The picture was taken by the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz as an ad campaign for Louis Vuitton. Fans have long longed to see the duo play together. There's a possibility that Ronaldo and Messi face each other in the Qatar World Cup. Argentina plays its first match in the tournament against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, and Portugal against Ghana on Thursday. In his explosive interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV,  Ronaldo talked abou...

Sunday's Ligue 1 fixture between Lyon and PSG saw PSG triumph thanks to a Lionel Messi goal. Messi found the back of the net in the fifth minute of the game, thanks to a Neymar assist. With this goal, Lionel Messi now overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most non-penalty goals, despite having played 150 games less. Messi has now scored 672 non-penalty goals, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 671. Earlier this week, the Argentinian forward achieved another feat when he became the first player to score in 18 consecutive Champions League seasons, once more overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in total - 699 goals in 941 games in all competitions for four different clubs, while Messi has scored 688 goals in 822 games in all competitions for two clubs - Barcelona and PSG.

Former Inter Milan striker Antonio Cassano recently revealed that five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo sent him a WhatsApp message after the Italian claimed Lionel Messi is superior to him. The former Roma player revealed the contents of Ronaldo's alleged texts during an interview on Bobo TV. “Cristiano wrote to me on WhatsApp asking for more respect after everything he’s won, all the goals he’s scored and for what he represents,” Cassano said. “I’m not afraid to tell the truth, I’ll face the whole world, from the Pope to the last person on earth. I told Cristiano Ronaldo that it’s not disrespect to say that only one Ronaldo exists and it’s the Fenomeno, and that Messi is much better than him. That’s not disrespect. “I was telling the truth, facts, that Messi is much better than him and there’s only one Ronaldo. I called Gigi Buffon and asked him if he had given my number to someone. He confirmed that he gave my number to the press officer [at  Juventus ] and he g...

Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or for a record seventh time, beating Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho to lift football's most prestigious trophy once more. His previous wins came in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019 - he had already won the trophy more times than any other player.  The 34-year-old was pivotal in Argentina's success - winning the Copa America - his first international honor, scoring 40 goals in 2021 - 28 for Barcelona, four for PSG and eight for Argentina.  Messi said: “It is incredible to be here again. Two years ago I thought that it was my last year and now I am here again. I am very happy, very excited and wanting to fight for new challenges. “I do not know how long I have left but I hope it will be a long time. I want to thank my teammates from Barcelona and PSG, and especially the Argentina team. I won this award and I had the feeling that I was missing something and this year I was able to achieve it. ...

Lionel Messi has been rated best player in FIFA 22, from rankings published by EA Sports. Messi is rated at 93 in this year's edition, ahead of second-placed Robert Lewandowski who has a 92 rating, and third-placed Cristiano Ronaldo who shares a rating of 91 with Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr and Jan Oblak. Kevin De Bruyne's is the highest-rated Premier League footballer on the game, as both Harry Kane and N'Golo Kante come in at 90. Here's the complete list of FIFA 22's best players. 1.  Lionel Messi - 93 2.  Robert Lewandowski - 92 3.  Cristiano Ronaldo - 91 4.  Kevin De Bruyne - 91 5.  Kylian Mbappe - 91 6.  Neymar Jr - 91 7.  Jan Oblak - 91 8.  Harry Kane - 90 9.  N'Golo Kante - 90 10.  Manuel Neuer - 90 11.  Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 90 12.  Mohamed Salah - 89 13.  Gianluigi Donnarumma - 89 14.  Karim Benzema - 89 15.  Virgil van Dijk - 89 16.  Joshua Kimmich - ...

It's the end of the Euro race for 36-year-old Portugal ace Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal captain failed to make much of an impact against Belgium, but is leaving as the tournament's top scorer with five goals to his name. He is also the top scorer in the history of the competition. He matched Ali Dael as the all-time leading scorer in international football with the goals he scored during the group stage of this Euro campaign. Thorgan Hazard scored the winner for Belgium in the first half of the game, with Portugal unable to break through the Belgian defense for an equalizer. When the final whistle was blown, a visibly furious Cristiano took off his armband and slammed on the pitch before kicking it. He approached Belgium's keeper Thibault Courtois after the game and said: "Lucky eh? The ball didn't want to get in today." Courtois comfortably saved a 25th minute free-kick taken by Ronaldo. Ronaldo's second chance at scoring a free-kick from a better ...

Former Portugal international Fernando Meira has criticized Cristiano Ronaldo for his explosive reaction after his winner for Portugal was disallowed.  Ronaldo's goal clearly crossed the line despite Aleksandar Mitrovic getting back to clear the ball, but referee  Danny Makkelie  waved play on after consulting with his linesman, sending the five-time Ballon d'Or winner into untold rage. Alas,  there was no VAR or goal-line technology to check the call. The 36-year-old threw his captain's armband down and stormed off the pitch after seeing the goal chalked off, with the match ultimately ending 2-2. "It's a clear goal, but Ronaldo cannot throw Portugal's captain's armband on the floor,"  said Meira,  who has 54 Portugal caps. "Cristiano's reaction is natural but unacceptable for the captain of the national team. You cannot throw the captain's armband on the floor and go towards the changing room while the game is still going on. ...

Cristiano Ronaldo's future has made the headlines since Juve's shock round of 16 Champions League elimination. Among the rumors about his future are stories of a possible return to Real Madrid. Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane may just have given more backing to the rumor after hinting that Real Madrid will try and re-sign Cristiano from Juventus this summer - with the Italian giants being tipped to cash in on the 36-year-old before he becomes a free agent in 2022. Ahead of Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Atalanta on Tuesday, Zinedine Zidane told Sky Italia: "It could happen. We know him and I've had the good fortune to coach him. "He's an impressive forward, we'll see what happens in the future. He's a Juventus player right now." It's worth noting that Cristiano Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s all-time highest goalscorer - with 450 goals in 438 games.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been heavily criticized by Italian media since Juventus' shocking exit from the Champions League yesterday night - more so because he played a pivotal role in Porto's win. Juventus and Porto went into extra time, with the latter one-player short since the first half. In the 115th minute, Porto was awarded a free-kick 35 yards away from the Juve goal. Sergio Olivera bagged his second goal of the night to put Porto up on aggregate. The low shot traveled through the legs of Cristiano Ronaldo who had turned his back on the ball, and despite Wojciech Szczensy's sizeable hand in the effort, he couldn't prevent the shot from shooting into his net. Adrien Rabiot later scored for Juventus, but it wasn't enough as Porto had a 4-3 lead on aggregate. Former Italy and Juventus manager Fabio Capello called Ronaldo's mistake unforgivable after the game.  "There are single mistakes and (mistakes due to) loss of concentration on all the goals con...

You may not have heard of Josef Bican before, but he's the man Cristiano Ronaldo just equaled as highest goal scorer in history. On Sunday night, five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal for Juventus vs Sassuolo - his 759th career goal - tieing Bican's record. Bican is a Czech striker who played for Austria during his career - he counts a total of 730 club goals and 29 national team goals.  The 35-year-old is officially past legends like Romario and Pele with his goal tally. Juventus' victory over Sassuolo on Sunday night lifted them to fourth place in the Serie A charts. Ronaldo only needs one more goal to become the highest scoring player ever. The players with the most official goals in football history are: 1.      Cristiano Ronaldo - 759 2.    Josef Bican - 759 3.    Pele - 757.

Barcelona seem to be back to their winning ways barely a few hours after Josep maria Bartomeu resigned as president of the club. Barcelona were able to beat Juventus at Turin, thanks to a masterclass display from Messi and co. Messi assisted Ousmane Dembele's deflected opener with a stunning cross-field pass and sealed victory for Barcelona by converting a late penalty, which resulted in a 2-0 win over the Bianconeri in the Champions League on Wednesday. He also completed more take-ons (6) and created more chances (5) than any other player on the pitch. Barcelona top Group G with 6 points in two games played. Italian football legend Vieri was left dumbfounded by the Argentine's brilliance on the pitch and told CBS Sports:  "An amazing Barcelona, there was no game. They could've scored six, seven goals easy. They played fantastic. "Messi is a magician, he's the Harry Potter of soccer and when he stops playing, I'm throwing my TVs away. I'm not going...

Juventus played their derby game vs Inter Milan on Sunday behind closed doors due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus in Italy. Large parts of Italy are actually on lockdown. The Italian government has actually confirmed that all sport in the country will be played behind closed doors until April 3, a decision that was supported by Inter president Steven Zhang.  He told BBC Sport: 'From a moral standpoint, as president of a football club and a manager in an organisation who are involved in these events, I just cannot accept this kind of proposal and I cannot let public health be put in this difficult condition,' he said. 'It doesn't matter what kind of game it is, it doesn't matter if it was 24 hours or 48 hours, we knew the situation was not going to be gone. 'The right thing to do was to reject the proposal. I had to do what was morally correct, even though it was difficult to say no. But we made the right choice and now people realize it was c...

Barcelona captain and best player Lionel Messi has come under heavy criticism following Barcelona's 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid during El Clasico in Bernabeu. Messi had a rather average performance during the game but other Barcelona players performed even worse. One of Messi's many critics is former Argentina goalkeeper Hugo Gatti. He claims his fellow countryman played like a retired player. Gatti told TV show 'El Chiringuito de Jugones': "You can't defend it. "You can defend him on a footballing level but, when Messi looks like a veteran, it should also be said. "He looks like a retired player lately, it's the truth," claimed Gatti. He however added that Messi and Ronaldo are still the best players in the world. "Today he [looked like] a former footballer," he said. "Yet even so, today, he is the best player in the world along with Cristiano Ronaldo."

Juventus attacking duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala were unable to score for Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 tie, and the pair blame their midfield for this. The Turin powerhouse was beaten by Lyon 1-0 at Parc OL in France. Juventus conceeded the goal in the first-half during which Juventus put up a rather poor display. Dybala and Ronaldo chatted freely in the tunnel while waiting for the kick-off of the second half, unaware that there was a TV camera in the tunnel. It recorded their conversation, an exchange in Spanish. "We are left alone out there, the midfielders are giving us no support,” the five-time Ballon d’Or winner grumbled to Dybala. "Nobody is getting the ball,” Dybala replied. "I know, not even the second balls, nothing,” Ronaldo said. There was some improvement from Juventus in the second half but they still couldn't overturn the one goal deficit.

Juventus has what it takes to overturn their last Champions League 16 first first leg deficit, believes Cristiano Ronaldo. The Italian giants lost 1-0 to Lyon in the first leg of the Champions League last 16. That was the first time Lyon achieved such a feat. They had played Juventus four times before, losing thrice and managing a draw. This month, Juventus shall welcome Lyon at the Allianz stadium for the second leg. And Ronaldo is convinced Juve have what it takes to qualify and move onto the next stage. He told Sky Sport Italia: "These are things that can happen, it is football we are not happy with the defeat against Lyon. "It can happen in the Champions League because all the matches are difficult. We’re angry, but there is a return leg at home. "We are very confident of reversing the result and passing to the next round, but our priority now is to win the next games. Then we will think of the Champions League. "We are calm, focused and re...

AC Milan and Netherlands legend Marco van Basten has given his no-nonsense opinion on the Ronaldo-Messi 'GOAT' comparison. Both players clearly stand out but fans tend to consider one better than the other. Messi is a six-time Ballon d'Or winner, an award Ronaldo has won a remarkable five times. Both veterans are having a fine season. Ronaldo has scored 25 goals for Juventus across all competitions, and Messi, 23. Of the 23, Messi has scored 18 in 20 La Liga appearances. Ronaldo has scored 21 goals in 21 Serie A appearances. Van Baten told Corriere della Sera, " Cristiano Ronaldo is a great player, but  those who claim that he is better than Messi don't understand anything about football or say it in bad faith. "Messi is unique, inimitable and unrepeatable. "Players like him appear every 50 or 100 years. "As a child he fell into the pot of football genius."

Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus were stunned by Lyon in their last 16 Champions League tie as they lost 1-0 to Lyon. Cristiano was unable to come to his side's aid, with Juventus having only on shot on target during the game. Note that Cristiano Ronaldo has an incredible Champions League knockout record - a ridiculous 65 goals in 79 matches. Ronaldo took a free-kick from 30 yards in first half injury-time but it was a poor attempt which crashed into the wall. That happened to be his 38th free-kick attempt for Juventus, and his 38th failure. Out of the 38 attempts, he’s hit the wall 24 times, 11 have been saved by the goalkeeper, he’s missed the target twice and hit the crossbar once. He has spent more than two years without scoring from a free-kick. Cristiano last scored a free-kick on December 16, 2017 when he was playing for Real Madrid. The Juve star has however been in formidable form this season, bagging 21 goals in 21 Serie A matches. He will probably be pivotal if ...

According to athlete marketing platform Opendorse, Cristiano Ronaldo is Twitter's most valuable athlete, meaning his tweets are more valuable than those of any other athlete endorser. Ronaldo has 82.7 million followers on Twitter, and his tweets are valued at $868,606. The second most valuable athlete on Twitter is legendary Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta. A tweet of his is worth $590,825. Coming third is PSG's Neymar, with his tweets valued at $478,138. LeBron James, the NBA icon is the most valuable US athlete on Twitter, and he comes fourth in the ranking of most valuable athletes on Twitter. Ronaldo who is the first individual to hit the 200 million followers milestone on Instagram is also Instagram's top earner, earning $975,000 per sponsored post.

French prodigy Kylian Mbappe has once more reiterated his preference for Cristiano Ronaldo over Lionel Messi. He says he's inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo's career and not Messi's. He however explained his preference for Ronaldo's career. He said he believes it's too late for him to be a one-club man like Lionel Messi. As such, he thinks it's better to copy Cristiano Ronaldo instead. The PSG young star told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "It's already late for me to have a career like Messi. "Otherwise I should have stayed at Monaco. So, logically and without wanting to take anything away from Messi, I have to be inspired by Ronaldo's career." Ronaldo started his career at Sporting Lisbon where he spent just a season before being signed by Manchester United in 2003. He went on to Real Madrid in 2009 at a world record transfer fee of $103 million. In 2018, he made another transfer to Juventus, and is curently in his second season with th...