4 outstanding records Cristiano Ronaldo shares with Lionel Messi

Modified Mar 10, 2020 17:45 GMT

Ronaldo and Messi share 4 stellar records

#3 Most appearances in the FIFPro World XI

The International Federation of Professional Footballers or FIFPro has been forming a team of the year ever since 2005, based on votes from professional footballers around the world. The team is named FIFPro World XI and comprises of the best players of the world, which includes one goalkeeper, a back four, a 3 man midfield and 3 attackers. Since its inception, 2 players have been in the team a record-setting 13 times – Messi and Ronaldo.

The Argentine and the Portuguese both made their first appearance in the FIFPro World Xi in 2007, however, while Messi was selected as a forward, Ronaldo was voted in as a midfielder. The following year, they were named in the front three for the first time and have never been left out since.

Ronaldo has represented Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus at the award; he and Dani Alves are the only 2 players to have represented 3 clubs. All of Messi’s appearances have been for Barcelona.

A front line containing these two stalwarts can still strike fear into the hearts of every defense in the world, 13 years on since their first appearance in the FIFPro World XI. Messi and Ronaldo share the outstanding record of most appearances in the FIFPro World XI and the consistency in their game is a striking feature that sets them both apart.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by A. Ayush Chatterjee