Messi tipped to reach 1,000 goals as Ronaldo rivalry goes into the superstar duo's 40s

Martin Macdonald

• 5 Mar 2026 05:15 CST
• 2 min read

News

Lionel Messi has been tipped to score 1,000 professional goals - the milestone that is currently motivating his perennial rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

The pair defined a football generation and many consider them to be the two greatest players in the history of the sport.

From league titles, to Champions League titles to even Ballon d'Or trophies, they were and still are rivals.

At the moment, Messi plays for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, while Ronaldo is with Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr. Both are still key figures for their respective sides, even with middle age creeping up.

Ronaldo won't think about hanging up his boots until he has scored 1,000 career goals. Former team-mate Giuseppe Rossi reckons it is these individual accolades that continue to motivate Cristiano.

“It's interesting. I never thought about if that's the biggest part of his legacy," the former Manchester United striker told GOAL.

"I mean, he loves the individual awards. He loves the individual accolades, right? So maybe that will be the thing that he'll lean on the most and rightfully so.

“Listen, scoring 1,000 goals for a striker, I'm a striker, I wish I had 1,000 goals! We all do. Scoring is the most difficult thing in the game of football and he was able to do it 1,000 times. So why not be proud of it? Why not, you know, hold your chest out high and be like, ‘yeah, I was able to do so’.”

What about Messi reaching 1,000?

“I'm not sure. I don't know," Rossi said.

"Do you think he even knows about that? Do you think he even cares about that? Maybe he does deep down, but I think it's two different ways that they approach the game. But I'm sure that Messi will get to 1,000 in the next three years. I think where he's at, he's at Miami until 2028, I'm sure that he'll get there.”

Messi has a contract with Miami until 2028 but Ronaldo's future at Al-Nassr is far from certain as last month he went on strike, furious at a seeming lack of investment in the team from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

He has since returned, and is back scoring goals, but the fallout from that strike may be felt until the summer.

At the moment, Ronaldo is on 965 career goals, while Messi has scored 898.

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