On December 18 at the Lusail Stadium, the World Cup final is played. The players would emerge from the locker room on one side we would have, Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo ready to give his all for his first World Cup, and on the other side Lionel Messi with the same desire. Do you think this dream final can happen?
For the moment, both are in the quarterfinals where Portugal will meet Morocco (the revelation of the tournament) and Argentina will face the Netherlands. The road will be complicated and there are other teams with great potential to lift the World Cup. Nevertheless, wouldn't it be the dream swansong for both stars, who have gone head to head, and for more than 15 years have fought to be considered the best player in the world?
What would the results have to be? The only option for the two to face each other is to reach the final or play for third place.
If the Albiceleste manages to qualify to the semifinals by beating the Netherlands, the next opponent will be the winner of the match between Brazil vs. Croatia. This match will mean their possible passage to the final. While Portugal has to beat Morocco and wait for an opponent between France and England.
For the two players, 37-year-old CR7 and 35-year-old Messi, it is their last World Cup, and it would be historic for either of them to win the Cup. In addition, they have never met in a World Cup, which would be very interesting despite having seen them play against each other in many matches at club level.
The only rapprochement between the two, at the national team level, may have been in 2018 in Russia. The teams were scheduled to meet in the quarterfinals, but both were defeated in the second round. Argentina lost 4-3 to France, and Portugal was defeated 2-1 by Uruguay.
Whatever happens, both have given us some of the greatest moments ever in soccer in recent times, there are already more figures that are breaking records and becoming idols, but the era that Ronaldo and Messi gave us will be written about and revered in the history of sport forever.
