Ronaldo overshadowed Messi's great milestone

The 5-0 victory over Zambia gave Argentina a perfect momentum ahead of the 2026 World Cup, while Lionel Messi reached an impressive scoring milestone but still hasn't surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Argentina national team had a perfect warm-up ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 by securing a decisive 5-0 victory over Zambia in a friendly match held in Buenos Aires. This match also witnessed Lionel Messi continuing to make his mark with a memorable milestone in his international career.

Messi scores, sets impressive personal record

In the 43rd minute of the first half, Messi quickly seized the opportunity from a rebound inside the box to unleash a left-footed shot from a narrow angle, increasing the score to 2-0 for Argentina. This is his 116th goal for the national team after 198 appearances, and also his first goal scored in 2026.

Notably, the superstar born in 1987 has scored for Argentina for 21 consecutive years, an extremely rare achievement in international football history. However, Messi still ranks behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the record of scoring for 22 consecutive years for the Portugal national team.

In the list of players who have scored for the most consecutive years, besides Ronaldo and Messi, there are also Edin Dzeko (20 years), Robbie Keane (19 years), and Robert Lewandowski (19 years).

Messi's persistent scoring journey with Argentina

Messi debuted for the Argentina national team on August 17, 2005, in a friendly match against Hungary, but was sent off just one minute after entering the field. He did not score in his first year of international play, and it was only in March 2006 that he scored his first goal in a match against Croatia.

Since then, Messi maintained consistent scoring performance for nearly two decades. 2022 was his most explosive year, scoring up to 18 goals, including 7 goals at the World Cup in Qatar. Earlier, 2012 was also a memorable milestone with 12 goals.

Ronaldo still holds the top position

Despite Messi achieving many impressive accomplishments, he still hasn't surpassed Ronaldo in international scoring statistics. The Portuguese star currently holds 143 goals after 226 matches for the national team and has scored for 22 consecutive years.

Ronaldo debuted for the national team in 2003 in a match against Kazakhstan, before scoring his first goal at Euro 2004 against Greece. Since then, he maintained a scoring streak extending to 2025 and could very well continue to extend this achievement in the coming period.

2019 was Ronaldo's most explosive international season, scoring 14 goals, greatly contributing to Portugal's UEFA Nations League victory. Currently, although he hasn't played in 2026, CR7 still has opportunities to further increase his records in upcoming matches.