Messi and Ronaldo's Last Dance: Who Will Inherit the Two Giants? | The Holy Grail, Episode 3

In football, and in sport in general, there is the matter of passing the torch to the younger generation, as if it were written that Messi and Ronaldo are handing it to Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. But Haaland and Mbappe are no longer children, they are already at the peak of their powers. Even in this World Cup, Messi and Ronaldo are expected to be at the center of the story. Messi is now an Inter Miami player, soon to be 39, and still the biggest football brand in the world. And once he won and Argentina finally brought home the World Cup, that was it, there are no expectations of him other than enjoying every game. Assuming Messi is not planning anything else, this will be his last major tournament. He is coming into it after already having done it all, after already winning everything, and after winning with Argentina. Therefore, every minute is going to be “Must See Television,” because of the fun, and because of the knowledge that this fun is probably for the last time.

And what can be said about Cristiano Ronaldo? At 41, with a bank account that has been swelled in Saudi Arabia, body fat levels like low-fat cheese, but still a healthy appetite for goals and several big targets to achieve. In theory, and if the gods of football allow it, he could meet Messi in the quarterfinals, and perhaps in his heart of hearts he also believes he will yet win the only title missing from his collection, the World Cup. “Everything is possible,” Ronaldo likes to say, “but you have to be realistic. I won two titles with Portugal and that gave me great joy, just as I won with clubs. The big dream is to win the World Cup, that is the dream.”

This is how Tal Berman described the World Cup on Kan: “When you are young and you play football in the neighborhood with friends, from time to time this older person arrives who wants to play, wants to take part in the game. On the one hand you feel awkward rejecting him, respect for the elderly and all that, and on the other hand you know he will weigh your team down. So that is Ronaldo at this World Cup. For at least a tournament and a half already, he has been a kind of burden on his team, although he scores and he has this challenge of reaching 1,000 goals. After we finish the story, the Disney story of Messi and he got his trophy, I want Ronaldo to do something meaningful and dramatic and even surprising.”

But the man challenging for the crown is Kylian Mbappe, who keeps firing away, and has matched Cristiano Ronaldo with 59 goals in a single calendar year. Mbappe already has one World Cup title under his belt from 2018 in Russia, and in that tournament he also won the Young Player of the Tournament award. Four years later in Qatar, even more mature, with eight goals, he carried France on his shoulders, including in the historic final. That ended in disappointment for Mbappe and the expected lifting of the trophy by Messi, but this time Mbappe will want it all. Yet already in the group stage he will meet someone no less accomplished in the matter of records, and with no less ambition, the Norwegian Erling Haaland, with whom Norway reached the World Cup again after 28 years and with a perfect record. So, Messi, Ronaldo or Haaland? More on that, four weeks before the World Cup: Messi and Ronaldo will compete with the young stars, but who will manage to deliver? That is the big story of the 2026 World Cup, before a single ball is kicked.