Different “destiny line” between Messi and CR7 in pre-retirement period
Speaking of the world’s two best players today, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will have no end. But recently, both of them showed the same side, namely in making decisions hanging shoes at the national team level each after the 2018 World Cup.
Indeed, they did not officially decide to hang their shoes, but Messi and Ronaldo had shown resistance when the call to defend Argentina and Portugal came. But, Messi and Ronaldo did not reveal the reason for refusing the national team call.
Coach Lionel Scaloni had persuaded him, but La Pulga didn’t budge. Messi just returned to play for Argentina in March 2019. Until finally deciding to play again, Messi has competed a total of seven times and five among the 2019 Copa America.
From this short period, Messi managed to score three goals. While Ronaldo chose not to go down in international matches so he could focus more on Juventus. At the age of no longer young, Ronaldo must be able to maintain his physical condition, in order to stay fit to play in tight competitions such as the Italian Serie A.
Then exactly on 23 March 2019, Ronaldo decided to defend the Portuguese national team along with the moment of the return of Lionel Messi to the Argentine national team. So far, there have been four matches played by Ronaldo for Portugal with a contribution of three goals.
When the decision is the same as hanging shoes after the 2018 World Cup, the destiny line of Messi and Ronaldo in the national team seems different.
Cristiano Ronaldo marks the moment of his comeback to the Portuguese national team with a neat note. Where the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player managed to deliver Portugal to be the champion in the 2019 UEFA Nations League event.
In the final match, Portugal managed to win with a thin score 1-0 over the Netherlands. Ronaldo himself made a major contribution to the semi-final match. Portugal won 3-1 against Switzerland, all goals scored by Portugal were bought by Ronaldo.
The achievement of this champion became Ronaldo’s second best record with the Portuguese national team, where his first achievement was to become the 2016 Euro champion. On different side, this 32-year-old failed to bring Argentina to the championship in the 2019 Copa America.
In the semi-final “sacred round” nicknamed the Superclasico between Argentina vs Brazil. Messi cs troops had to surrender with the score 2-0 over Brazil. This failure is an additional note for Messi in the mission to bring the Argentine national team to excel. In total, this Barcelona star has undergone nine major tournaments with Argentina, but none of them have been involved.