5 World Cup records both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will never break

#2 Most finishes in top 2

The record for the most finishes in the top two in the World Cup is shared between six players. Brazil’s Nilton Santos, Pele, Cafu and Ronaldo along with Pierre Littbarski and Lothar Matthaus of West Germany have finished in the top two thrice in their career.

Among them, only Pele has been on the winning side on all occasions, while Santos, Cafu, and Ronaldo have finished second once. Littbarski and Matthaus won the World Cup with West Germany in 1990, while they finished second in both the 1982 and 1986 edition.

Messi powered Argentina to the 2014 FIFA World Cup final but came up short against Germany. On the other hand, Ronaldo’s best finish in the FIFA World Cup has been in his inaugural tournament in 2006, when Portugal finished fourth.

Since then, the Juventus forward has departed the tournament twice in the Round of 16 and once in the group stages. Messi has managed to reach the quarter-final twice, in 2006 and 2010, while in 2018, Argentina were knocked out at the Round of 16 stages by eventual champions France.

While it is not unlikely for them to lead their respective teams to a top 2 finish in 2022, it is definitely impossible for them to break the current record.

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 close to 9000 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.

Know More

Edited by Zaid Khan