World Cup 2018: 5 key takeaways from the Mundial so far

#3 Ronaldo and Messi roles reversed

CR7 has been the leading man for Portugal

The only stick that was used to beat Ronaldo was that he had failed to perform at a World Cup when Messi single-handedly took Argentina to final in 2014. The argument had some truth in it with Ronaldo only scoring 3 goals in the last three editions and Messi winning the Golden Ball in the previous edition.

All he needed was one match and the opener against Iberian neighbours, Spain provided him with the perfect opportunity to shut his critics up once and for all.

His first two might have been a penalty and due to a rare David de Gea error but his 88th-minute exquisite free kick for the hat-trick was a thing of beauty that will be watched over and over again.

He did not stop there proceeding to knock Morocco out of the tournament with the only goal, in the process becoming the highest scoring European in international games with 85 goals.

If he continues this level of performances he could drag Portugal all the way like he did at the Euros in 2016.

Messi, on the other hand, has done little to justify his out-of-character pre-World Cup buzz created by him posing with a G.O.A.T (pun intended) for a New York-based magazine.

Amongst an array of dribbles and one-twos, his penalty miss sticks out as the match’s biggest moment. While understandably bogged down by a sub-par team, Messi might regrettably end up on the early flight back home if we see more of the same in the coming set of fixtures.

It generally used to be the other way with Ronaldo doing all the talking and Messi going quietly about his business but their roles seem to have reversed this time.