Lionel Messi will make his 200th appearance for Argentina when the Albiceleste face Algeria on Thursday in their World Cup opener. The Argentine superstar will reach this milestone boasting better statistics than Ronaldo did when the Portuguese player also reached the same milestone with his national team.
The 2026 World Cup is already underway, although some teams have yet to play their opening match, such as the reigning champions Argentina, who will begin their quest to retain the title in their opener against Algeria on Thursday at 3 am CEST.
The match, which precedes the ‘Albiceleste’s upcoming fixtures against Austria and Jordan, will be special not only for Argentinians watching their country play its first official World Cup match since lifting the trophy in Qatar in 2022, but also for Leo Messi, who is set to reach an incredible milestone with Argentina.
The Inter Miami superstar will thus become the first player to reach 200 official appearances for the ‘Albiceleste’, leading a ranking in which he is well ahead of second-placed Javier Mascherano, who has 147 appearances.
Di Maria and Zanetti share fourth place with 145 appearances each, whilst Nicolas Otamendi (132), Roberto Ayala (115), Diego Simeone (106), Sergio Aguero (101), Oscar Ruggeri (97) and Sergio Romero (96) complete the all-time top 10.
Clear edge over Ronaldo’s milestone numbers
If Messi has had one clear rival throughout his career, it is Cristiano Ronaldo, who is also widely recognised by Portugal fans as the most influential player in the history of their national team.
The Al Nassr superstar reached his 200th international cap for Portugal in June 2023, in a victory in which he scored the winning goal against Iceland in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
If we compare the Argentine’s statistics on the eve of his 200th international appearance with Ronaldo’s when he reached that milestone, we can see a statistical gap between the two, with the balance tipping in favour of the Inter Miami forward.
Although the former Real Madrid player had scored 124 goals by that point, compared to Messi’s current tally of 117, the Portuguese had provided just 18 assists by then, compared to the Argentine star’s 61, with Messi surpassing Ronaldo in G/A generated with a total of 178 to 142.
Messi currently boasts 127 wins, 43 draws and just 29 defeats, a record slightly better than Ronaldo’s in his first 200 appearances for Portugal (120 wins, 47 draws and 33 defeats).
The opponent he had faced most often by that point was Luxembourg (11), ahead of Spain with 9 matches and Denmark, Sweden and France tied on 7.
Messi, unsurprisingly, has faced Latin American sides most often, with Brazil and Paraguay leading the rankings with 14 matches, ahead of Chile, Venezuela, Colombia and Uruguay, all tied on 13.
The Argentine star’s favourite victims have been Bolivia (11 goals in 12 matches), ahead of the 7 goals he has scored against Venezuela and Ecuador in 13 and 11 matches respectively. Ronaldo’s favourite victim at the time was Luxembourg, against whom he had scored 11 goals in as many matches, ahead of the 7 goals he had scored against Sweden and Lithuania in 7 and 3 matches respectively.
The opponent against whom Ronaldo had provided the most assists by the time he reached his 200th cap for Portugal was Hungary, with a total of three in six matches – half of the six assists Messi has provided against Venezuela in 13 matches.
Messi has managed to score two hat-tricks against the same team (Bolivia), something Ronaldo had not achieved at that time, although the Portuguese player could boast of scoring four goals in a single match against different opponents, namely Andorra and Lithuania. However, Messi has managed to score five goals in a single match – in a friendly victory against Estonia in 2022 – whilst Ronaldo has never achieved such a feat whilst wearing the Portugal shirt.