Lionel Messi scored a late winner against New England Revolution to secure Inter Miami a spot in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo hit his 67th career hat trick against Al Kholood on Thursday. Ronaldo now has 985 goals, leaving him just 15 away from reaching 1000 career goals.
Another week gone by, another couple of games notched up by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the two continue to do what only they can. Here's how it went down:
Football
Messi:
It started on a poor note for Messi, with an ineffective 34-minute cameo as Inter Miami lost 0-2 to Red Bull New York to end their three-game winning streak. He followed that up with another performance where he didn't make much of a mark as Miami were held 2-2 by FC Cincinnati, all four goals curled in from either just inside or just outside the opposition box.
All that disappointment, though, was forgotten when Miami took on New England Revolution, the side that had pipped them to second place on the weekend. New England took the lead in the 53rd minute, but Germán Berterame equalised after Telasco Segovia chip was headed back brilliantly into his path by Messi.
At 1-1, it looked like New England would hold onto the draw, and second place, but then Messi did MessiThings™. Dragging Ethan Kohler with him, Messi knocked the ball around the defender's left before running onto him around his right and then stepping onto a superb touch from Segovia before racing into the box and slamming it into the bottom far corner to make it 2-1, a win that ensured Miami's spot in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup.
The result also takes them a point clear of New England and back into second in the MLS Eastern Conference, with just one game remaining in the regular season.
Ronaldo:
Ronaldo had a far more successful few days in front of goal, even if one of the four goals he scored whipped up some controversy. Ronaldo was credited with the second of Al Nassr's goals in their 3-1 win over Al Faisaly, even though it was unclear if he got a significant touch to João Félix's freekick cross with his head before it deflected into the net off Al Faisaly defender Andrei Girotto. ESPN's stats provider, Opta, adjudged it to be an own goal. Ronaldo had no doubts, though, and neither did the Saudi Pro League - who credited the goal to the Portuguese superstar.
There was, though, no disputing the hattrick he scored to make it 985 on Thursday vs Al Kholood. It was his 67th career hattrick, a remarkable statistic. (Messi has 62, in case you were wondering)
The game was tied at 2-2 when Ronaldo scored his first to put his side ahead, tapping it into an empty net off a Felix pass after a flowing Al Nassr move. The second was a trademark flying header as he leaped high to nod home another lovely, floated cross from Felix. The third came when he got onto the end of a counterattack he started, once again tapping home from close range after Sadio Mané squared it to him after the Senegalese forward had been held up by the keeper when through one-on-one.
They remain third in the league, two behind Al Hilal and level on points with Al Qadsiah (and a game in hand over them).
He won't have a chance to make a dent in that chase for 1000 goals today as he is being rested for Al Nassr's AFC Champions League trip to Uzbekistan, a week after the club's previous game in the competition was postponed, and amid concern that the security situation in Saudi Arabia will continue to impact Asia's top football tournaments.
Life (and Social Media)
Messi
An Instagram post celebrating Miami's win over New England and their subsequent sealing of the Champions Cup spot, with the caption "Another goal met, let's keep going"
Ronaldo
Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d'Or of All Time and celebrated it by posting a throwback photo of him with the 2008 Ballon d'Or that won him the award and a caption, "Football belongs the fans! Thank you to all the fans around the world, the Ballon d'Or of All Time is also yours.
Besides that, he also had an Instagram story promoting his hometown of Madeira for three categories in the 2026 World Tourism Awards, and a post after the Al Kholood win, with the caption: "Great win, great team performance. Happy to help with a hat-trick!"
Words
(On) Messi:
"I have no doubts that he's the best of them all," Miami head coach Cristian 'Kily' González said of Messi's MVP odds. "Nobody compares with him, with all due respect to his colleagues. Leo - at his age, and what he represents, and what he does - it's obvious that he deserves it. Just like he deserved the Ballon d'Or."
(On) Ronaldo:
Erik ten Hag has gone in on Ronaldo again. This weekend, the former Manchester United coach told ESPN that he does not believe Cristiano Ronaldo was fit or committed enough during their time together at Manchester United, adding that he feels the five-time Ballon d'Or winner could "no longer deliver" on the pitch after leaving Juventus in 2021. Ten Hag also said the notion that one of Ronaldo's defining characteristics is his dedication to pushing his physical limits is "not entirely true, but that is the image."
"The players wanted to work for him, and they looked up to him because let there be no misunderstanding about that. He is of course a tremendous player, one of the greats of all time. But that is also the reality over the last seven, eight years he simply can no longer deliver. From Juventus onwards it's simply over, " he said. "And that is actually the great gift of Real Madrid -- they always know when to say goodbye to players at the right moment. They recognise when a player's level is declining and they say goodbye at a moment when to the outside world, they still appear to be at their peak. But they can no longer actually deliver."
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