Cristiano Ronaldo retirement claim made about Lionel Messi rivalry after Portugal triumph

That’s the belief of Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.

The debate as to who is the best between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continues to rage on after Portugal’s UEFA Nations League success.

Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in the semi-finals in a 3-1 win over Switzerland before the reigning European champions beat Holland in the final.

The 34-year-old Juventus forward’s career tally now stands at 707 in 998 games, while his tally of 88 in 158 for his country means he is steadily closing in on becoming the worldwide record goalscorer on the international stage. Iran’s Ali Daei is the only man ahead of him, having scored 109 times in 149 games.

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi’s goalscoring total for club and country stands at 697 goals in 872 games, with the Argentine looking to win his first international honour at the Copa America in Brazil this summer.

Ronaldo’s supremacy for Portugal is often held up as evidence that he deserves to be recognised as the better of the pair, given how fine the margins are between the pair in terms of statistics and silverware at club level.

And while Carragher – who faced both of the iconic forwards while a player himself at Liverpool – thinks Messi is the better player, he insists Ronaldo is the greatest scorer ever and will play on until his goal total surpasses anyone else in history.

Currently, Josef Bican, Romario, Pele, Ferenc Puskas and Gerd Muller are ahead of him with all-time leader Bican having netted 805 goals in his career.

Carragher said: “We keep getting involved in this Messi vs Ronaldo debate, where will they finish at the end of their careers in terms of Pele, Maradona, all these people. 

“What I would say is, I think that fella [Ronaldo] is going to keep playing until he’s scored more goals than anyone. 

“I think he will go down, certainly in my eyes, as the greatest goalscorer I’ve ever seen. 

“When you think he came onto the scene as a tricky left winger, the goalscoring record, what he’s shown again in mid-week. That’s what I think he has.

“I think Messi is the better player but for me, [Ronaldo is] the best goalscorer I’ve ever seen.”

There is much debate over who is the highest goalscorer of all time, with the International Federation of Football History & Statistics having Pele down as scoring 1,281 goals in 1,363 games – although that includes unofficial friendlies and tour games.

Without those included, the legendary three-time World Cup-winning Brazilian’s sum stands at 757 in 812.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, will hope to continue closing in on record of becoming the all-time leading goalscorer in world football with Juve next season.

In his first year in Italy, having joined Juve from Real Madrid 12 months ago, he managed 28 goals and 11 assists across all competitions.

Ronaldo scored 21 times in the league en-route to a Serie A title but saw former Juve front-man Fabio Quagliarella, now at Sampdoria, finished as the division’s top scorer with 26 goals at the age of 36.