Fifa World Cup 2022: Messi-Ronaldo ‘GOAT’ debate still unsettled – and they could meet in the final

For their legions of fans, next weekend’s World Cup final at the spectacular Lusail Stadium could see one of the sporting world’s most intense debates finally reach a conclusion.

The endless argument over whether Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi is the greatest of their generation – or indeed of all time – has long ignited passions, both in the stands and, perhaps more poisonously, among social media’s keyboard warriors.

As the quarter-finals at Qatar 2022 prepare for kick-off on Friday after the relentless grind of the group phase and the round of 16, football’s ultimate prize lies within the grasp of either man and with it would surely come their crowning glory.

Despite claiming 12 Ballon d’Or trophies between them – seven for Messi, five for Ronaldo – and four Uefa Champions League titles each, neither has won the World Cup.

Victory on December 18 would add significant weight to any claim of pre-eminence in a battle for individual superiority that has dominated discussion within the game for well over a decade, and would come with both players approaching the end of their careers.

Portugal and Argentina remain alive in the competition and, given their positions on opposite sides of the draw, it is not inconceivable that Messi and Ronaldo could face one another in the showpiece.

The route through to what for many would be a fairy tale clash remains tricky, however.

Ronaldo’s Portugal take on a Morocco side who took defensive stubbornness to new heights against Spain and will be no less difficult to break down on Saturday, with Walid Regragui having instilled a unity that has seen them concede a solitary goal on their way to the quarter-finals.

The Netherlands offer Argentina a surmountable challenge, even with the emergent scoring talents of Cody Gakpo, the resurgence of Memphis Depay and the defensive intellect of Virgil van Dijk, who looks to be regaining the form he was missing recently for Liverpool.

So far, Messi, who has scored three times in four matches, has shown regular flashes of his remarkable abilities while Ronaldo has pouted and preened before being dropped.

The Argentinian’s goal against Australia – incredibly his first ever in the World Cup knockout rounds – carried all his usual trademarks: the quick movement, the darting run and the precision finish, stroked into the bottom corner with his gilded left foot.

Ronaldo, by contrast, has scored only once, from the penalty spot in his side’s opener against Ghana, in a further sign that his value to Portugal – as was the case with Manchester United before they cancelled his contract last month – has diminished.

Tellingly, in his absence against Switzerland, Fernando Santos’ side shone.

Freed from needing to satisfy the constant demands of an ageing and increasingly immobile forward, Portugal played with a dynamism that elevated them back into the upper echelon of teams.

After Ronaldo’s ineffective display in, and petulant departure from, the loss against South Korea in the final round of group games, Goncalo Ramos’ hat-trick in the 6-1 win over the Swiss amplified the sense that the Portuguese are well placed to move on from the 37-year-old.

Not that that will lessen the noise around international football’s all-time leading scorer should Portugal advance to the final, and in particular if his side’s opponents are Messi’s Argentina.

Shirts emblazoned with Ronaldo’s name are a regular sight around Doha and the impassioned response from fans when he made a late appearance from the bench against the Swiss underline his enduring appeal.

The Argentinians, too, have the tools to progress from their meeting with the Netherlands, and possibly go further. Benfica’s Enzo Fernandez and recent Manchester City signing Julian Alvarez have proved Lionel Scaloni’s side do not rely solely on Messi.

They would expect to meet Brazil in the semi-finals, with Tite’s radiant side likely to be too much for 2018 finalists Croatia, who sneaked into the last eight with a penalty shoot-out win over a Japan side lacking the ruthlessness to punish the European side’s shortcomings. Brazil are unlikely to be so forgiving.

Portugal, meanwhile, would face the winner of perhaps the most anticipated clash of the tournament so far, when England meet defending champions France, powered by the imperious Kylian Mbappe – now claiming the mantle of the world’s best player from Messi and Ronaldo.

Gareth Southgate’s team have thrived in Qatar, with 19-year-old Jude Bellingham establishing himself so convincingly on the biggest stage that the bidding war for his services next summer has already effectively begun in the English media.

It is a clash too close to call, and one that Portugal and Morocco will hope drains the victor to their benefit in the next round.

If Portugal and Argentina come through their respective quarter-finals. the possibility of a defining clash between icons will become ever more tantalising.

By then, a potential clash between Ronaldo and Messi is certain to become much more than a subplot. For many, it would be the central narrative of a dream finale.