Mbappe, Messi, and Ronaldo…one criterion reveals a huge difference sports

The 2026 World Cup seems to be an event for super stars, as the greats compete to achieve records in a tournament that always makes a difference, and puts the brilliant ones in another rank, while taking away a lot of the luster from the losers.

In the current World Cup, goals remain, as usual, an authentic standard for brilliance, and what is interesting is that the goal race this time touches on horizons of a different kind, as great knights such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland compete for it.

Three of the previous four names so far lead the Golden Shoe race, and all of them found their way to the net very early in the current tournament, with exceptional superiority for the Argentine flea Messi (6 goals in 3 matches), and the French golden boy Mbappe (6 goals in 4 matches), then comes the Norwegian giant Haaland (5 goals after 4 matches), and relatively far away, comes Ronaldo, who is searching with all he has for a final scene of brilliance in the World Cup (two goals in 3 matches).

While fans of the Four Stars debate rages about who is the best among them, a specific standard imposes itself on everyone, and this standard specifically puts Ronaldo in a real dilemma that the Saudi Al-Nasr star may not escape from if he does not succeed in scoring in the Croatia match in the round of 16, and Portugal is eliminated from the tournament.

Although Ronaldo scored 10 goals in total in his participation in the World Cup, and he is the only one in history to score at least a goal in 6 different World Cup editions, all of his 10 goals came in the first rounds of the tournament, and without him ever succeeding in scoring in one of the knockout matches.

This shocking statistic reveals that Ronaldo was never decisive in the most important confrontations, but rather all his goals came in less intense matches and against teams that theoretically remain weaker than those that qualify for the advanced rounds.

On the other hand, the numbers of Messi, Ronaldo’s historical rival, appear to be the opposite, as the Argentine star scored 19 goals that put him at the top of the World Cup’s top scorers throughout its history, including 5 goals in elimination matches.

Even Mbappé (27 years old), whose young age provides him with other opportunities to break more records, his numbers indicate a wonderful record, as he scored a total of 18 goals, including 10 goals during the World Cup knockout rounds.

What is interesting is that Mbappe and Messi gave an amazing performance in the 2022 World Cup final, when Messi scored a brace, and Mbappe responded with a hat-trick before Argentina won the title on penalties.

On the other hand, Haaland, who is playing in his first World Cup with Norway, succeeded in scoring during the round of 32 match against Côte d’Ivoire to break the scoring barrier in the qualifying matches, and Ronaldo remains alone among the Big Four who has not yet achieved this achievement, which is a knot that may not be easy to untie in the stubborn Croatia match, next Thursday.