In the Portuguese national team currently, if it is an important match such as Euro Qualification or other important competitions, Ronaldo is still relied on by Roberto Martinez because Ronaldo performance is still very competitive and really helps in achieving victory.
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For Messi himself, to be honest, I doubt he will play with Argentina in the 2026 World Cup, but many people also believe that Messi will be present and can play for the Argentine national team.
Seeing how Messi is now, it cannot be hidden that he has experienced significant decline in terms of playing quality as striker, this is very different from Ronaldo who is still consistent.
If CR7 competes in the 2026 World Cup he will be 41 years old and Messi will be 38 years old. It will be the most historic generation of stars in world football.
I was rooting for Brazil in the previous cup, but to be honest, with the football they were playing and the tactical failures, I was aware that they could lose, but deep down I was rooting for Portugal and Argentina because of these stars and the whole contribution that these two players represent to world football. In the end, I was very happy with Messi lifting the cup, on the other hand, I was sad for Ronaldo, besides, Portugal hasn't won a World Cup yet.
Each one with their own different way of dribbling, CR7 has a more freestyle dribble while Messi has a simpler dribble, without displays, but effective. I've never seen Messi do a "carretilha" like Neymar does (A dribble where the player lifts the ball with his feet with the heel to bounce the opponent), that's why Neymar is always chased on the field, because Neymar provokes players with his beautiful, but unnecessary dribbles that only serve to irritate the opponents.
So this is the difference, Ronaldo is clearly older than Messi but they have different performances, Ronaldo still looks like young player with competitive performance and is still quite agile in controlling the ball.
We can see this difference in the last few years and of course Ronaldo is still an important part for Portugal in prestigious competitions but Messi is like player who will be thrown away because his performance is also being questioned by the coach.
But indeed each team will have its own mainstay players with different skills, they will play as well as possible with teammates who can clearly understand the game and complement each other.
For the upcoming World Cup, when it comes to players, Ronaldo is the only star player most people hope for.
But I also doubt whether Portugal can play well and reach the title fight in the final or not, I slightly think that it is possible that we will see new team as champions, for Argentina themselves they will not easily defend the title.