Ronaldo will retire as the most prolific goal scorer in football history

The debate between Ronaldo and Messi is one which will never end with most football fans strongly feeling that one of the duo is better than the other. Even though I feel that Ronaldo has the edge over his Argentine counterpart, I respect people who feel that Messi is better. Each player has their own strengths and weaknesses.

If one thing looks certain, Ronaldo will retire as the most prolific scorer in football history. The 34-year-old recently scored four goals in a Euro 2020 qualifier for Portugal against Lithuania. Ronaldo's fitness and flexibility is super-human. Even most of the greats were struggling to perform on a high level when they were his age. Joao Felix looks like the natural successor to Ronaldo for the Portugal team at this stage but the veteran will not succumb easily and will likely carry on playing until his body fails on him, even if it means playing beyond the age of 40 and alongside his son Cristiano Jr who is currently nine years old and who could turn professional in another seven years if he carries on progressing at the rate that he is currently doing so.

Ronaldo's quadruple against Lithuania took his international goals tally to 93. This was the second time that Ronaldo has scored four goals in a single game for Portugal and he also did the same eight times for the various clubs that he has played for. By contrast Messi has never done the same for Argentina but did do so six times for Barcelona during his younger years.

Ronaldo will at the very least carry on playing internationally at least until the 2022 World Cup and is is well on track to surpass more than 100 international goals. Messi by contrast boasts 68 international goals and at 32-years-old, it looks unlikely that he will surpass the 100 international goal mark by the time he retires. Messi usually beats Ronaldo when it comes to technical stats such as pass completion rate, free-kick accuracy and duels won but what cannot be denied is that Ronaldo is more prolific when it comes to scoring goals.

Ronaldo also has greater desire and hunger to continue playing winning things in international football than Messi. Ronaldo has been almost single handily carrying the Portugal national team for more than a decade but his commitment to his country could never be once questioned. On the other hand, Messi does appear somewhat frustrated by his country's lack of success on the international scene. This was seen in 2016 when he hastily announced that he would be retiring from international football following Argentina's loss against Chile during the Copa America final before backtracking on his decision shortly after.

Ronaldo is the most prolific goal scorer in international football history. Technically Iran's Ali Daei may have retired with 109 goals and is on paper the most prolific scorer in history but he played against mainly Asian teams during a time when Asian football was vastly inferior in standards as compared to what it is today. He was also an average player at best during his club career. The Iranian had spells in Germany with Hertha Berlin, Bayern Munich and Arminia Bielefeld but did not make much of an impact.