Let’s put things into perspective.
By the age of 20:
R9 had 100 career goals.
Messi had 15.
Cristiano had 11.
By the age of 22:
R9 had 200+ career goals.
Messi had 80.
CR7 had 60.
That’s 60 more goals than Messi and Cristiano combined before his career was derailed by a devastating knee injury.
He then spent almost three years battling injuries, yet returned to lead Brazil to the 2002 World Cup, scoring twice in the final despite playing with a damaged knee.
Injuries robbed us of what could have been an even greater career, but ask those who watched him or played alongside him, and many will tell you the same thing:
Ronaldo Nazário El Fenômeno. 🇧🇷
Kids of today will never know how great Egypt from 2006-10 was, when they had Mohamed Hosni, Mohamed Zidan & the great Mohamed Aboutrika-he used to run like he's limping, slanted to one side!
I'll never forget Confederations Cup 2009!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
You know what shook me when I was Muslim?
The story of Hosea. God tells a prophet to marry a woman He knows will betray him.
She does. She runs to other men. She ends up enslaved, sold, used up, worthless to the world.
And God tells Hosea to go BUY HER BACK.
To pay money for his own wife who cheated on him, and love her again. Hosea 3.
I thought it was the most humiliating command in the Bible. Why would any man do that?
Then I realized I was the wife.
I gave my heart to everything but God. I chased other masters. I sold myself cheap. I made myself worthless.
And God looked at me, the betrayer, and didn’t say “you’re not worth it.”
He said, “Name the price. I’m buying her back.”
That’s the Gospel. God doesn’t wait for the unfaithful to come crawling back clean.
He pays to redeem them while they’re still dirty.
Islam told me to make myself worthy of God.
Hosea showed me a God who pays to redeem the unworthy.
The cross was Him naming the price.
Praise the Lord.
The 2026 World Cup may be the last trophy Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ever jointly compete for.
They are among the greatest players to ever kick a ball and their compelling rivalry has transcended the sport for decades. They may have barely shared a pitch in the past eight years but comparisons between the two remain constant — and perhaps always will, whatever they do for the rest of their careers and lives.
It has been a rivalry of trophies, goals and resentment, even spawning a culture war.
This is the story of football’s GOATs (Greatest Of All Time). We may never see this again.
📝 @TimSpiers@will_jeanes
🔗 https://t.co/RX17rzflIn