-

21. @FCBarcelona

[- @Rubashinho]

@FcbxSam 🐐

[Mod @CFCMods]

I am personally no longer partaking in these debates, I understand that after a while your brain cannot compute how a 39 year old footballer is playing the way he’s playing, I get it, you have to throw your logic out and make conspiracy theories to be sane.

I understand it.

[Islam Bouafif 🇹🇳🇵🇸 @BouafifNour]

Since Messi haters will call it rigged no matter what happens, I need Switzerland to knock out Colombia and Norway to knock out England. Give Messi the easiest path possible to the final without facing any big team. if they’re going to cry anyway, I might as well enjoy the tears

[✍️ 🇦🇱 @10blended]

Messi since he switched to RW in this game

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🚨 Leo Messi: “I cried because I felt that 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 because of the penalty I missed… and the way I took it”.

“But thankfully once again, God had something special for me in the end. I’m very happy”.

[🇪🇸 @newreyreal2]

You can’t concede 3 goals and call it rigged lol

[n @Nitin__10]

Messi is so shameless.

Misses a penalty, invites all Ronaldo fans online for hatewatch and then produces a masterclass. 😭😭😭😭

[Reshad Rahman @ReshadRahman]

This was Messi after Egypt scored their second goal.

His incredible leadership and mentality are two traits nobody talks about.

[Guinness World Records @GWR]

Messi has now scored in NINE CONSECUTIVE WORLD CUP MATCHES.

It had to be him.

[Archivo VAR @ArchivoVAR]

⁉️💥 ¿Hay penalti en la acción entre Nico González y Salah?

✅ 𝗡𝗢.

👉🏻 El jugador argentino intercepta el balón y, tras ello, se produce un contacto no punible.

▪️ Por tanto, no existe ninguna infracción previa revisable en el tercer gol de Argentina.

[I Love Sports @ILoveSports_55]

@TouchlineX African teams if football matches are 80 Mins

[ESPN FC @ESPNFC]

GOAT 🐐

THE ONE AND ONLY, LIONEL MESSI!

[Mod @CFCMods]

In what world is this not a foul?

Why do people suddenly become room temperature IQ individuals when it comes to Messi and Argentina

[Reshad Rahman @ReshadRahman]

LIONEL MESSI, THANK YOU FOR EXISTING IN OUR LIVES. https://t.co/PgY2UJdJ16

[E @Ellis_]

10 minutes ago when Egypt were winning 2-0 it wasn’t rigged, but now suddenly the World Cup is rigged again? Hm, okay man.

[Reshad Rahman @ReshadRahman]

Messi inspiring his National team to a historic comeback. Easy for some. Difficult for the others.

[Guinness World Records @GWR]

FROM THE BRINK, AN ALL TIME COMEBACK FROM ARGENTINA!

[Mod @CFCMods]

This is what it means to have a team that loves you https://t.co/N0miB7gGmI

[Reshad Rahman @ReshadRahman]

“World Cup is rigged for Lionel Messi”, go cry about it.

[Appie Culé @appiecule]

I’m going to take my time with this one. If you’re busy, save this post and read it later. If you’re a night owl like me, this is a good late-night read.

Do you know the worst thing about Cristiano Ronaldo?

It’s that he set the standards for what defines a legend… and in the end, he couldn’t even live up to the standards he created himself.

After winning Euro 2016, Ronaldo said:

“You can’t become a legend until you win a trophy with your national team.”

It was an obvious dig at Messi.

Argentina had just lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, and Messi was going through the toughest period of his international career. Those words only added fuel to the fire.

Where was the respect for a rival, Ronaldo?

The surprising part was that social media completely embraced that narrative. Messi was labeled a bottler, while Ronaldo was declared the winner of the rivalry—at least in the media, not on the pitch.

Then Messi retired from international football, came back, won the Copa América, and suddenly they were level in major international trophies.

What happened next?

Ronaldo fans started saying that one Euro is worth more than a hundred Copa Américas, claiming there was no competition in South America. Not true—but that became the excuse.

Then Messi went on to win the World Cup.

This time, the excuses changed again.

They claimed FIFA had fixed the tournament for Messi. That the World Cup was scripted in his favor. They simply didn’t know what else to say.

Then Ronaldo himself came out with one of the strangest quotes imaginable:

“A legend’s career can’t be defined by just seven games.”

At first glance, it sounds reasonable.

But beneath it was another attempt to diminish what Messi had achieved.

Before the World Cup, they insisted it would be Ronaldo’s tournament. On paper, Portugal had a fantastic squad. If the manager couldn’t get the best out of them, that’s Portugal’s problem—not Ronaldo’s.

Yet that same Portugal squad wasn’t any weaker than the Argentina team Messi led to the 2014 World Cup final—the same team people mocked Messi for not carrying to the title.

Just a couple of days ago, Ronaldo said:

“The World Cup doesn’t define my career, whether I win it or not.”

A statement that directly contradicts what he had said years earlier, when he admitted that winning the World Cup would make him feel completely fulfilled.

Now you’re 41 years old, Cristiano.

By your own standards:

* You have 5 Ballon d’Ors, not 8.
* You have one European Championship, not two Copa América titles.
* You never won the World Cup.
* You have four European Golden Shoes, while Messi has six—even though you’re an out-and-out striker.

So what now?

Will you keep playing until the next World Cup and become the first player to appear in one at 45, hoping to finally win it?

If we judged you by the standards you created, you wouldn’t qualify as a legend.

Of course, nobody actually judges you that way. Everyone still recognizes you as one of football’s greatest legends.

The real mistake was comparing Ronaldo to Messi in the first place.

That rivalry was exaggerated from the beginning by the media and figures like José Mourinho.

Messi conquered every major trophy available to him, shattered records that once seemed untouchable, and at 39 years old he’s still competing with Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland—the stars of the next generation—for the Golden Boot. And honestly, he could still win it.

What made Messi beloved by so many fans is that he never tried to diminish Ronaldo’s achievements.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, repeatedly made comments that many interpreted as attempts to downplay his greatest rival’s accomplishments—and that’s never an admirable trait.

Cristiano helped create a generation that thinks belittling other people’s achievements while constantly glorifying your own is a way to establish dominance.

Good bye. Ronaldo.

[tag @mxdric]

Oh we're doing the "European teams are better" thing again, but you got knocked out in the group stages of 2014 behind USA, lost to Uruguay in 2018, Morocco in 2022, and got the bad side of the draw in 2026 because you couldn't beat Congo or Colombia. Funny how that works