Messi vs Ronaldo
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40 free Messi vs Ronaldo trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
For fifteen years Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo pushed each other to numbers nobody had seen before, and fans still argue about who came out on top. Between them they turned the Ballon d'Or into a two-man contest for a decade and made every Clásico a global event. This quiz covers both careers side by side: the childhood setbacks each had to beat, the clubs and coaches that shaped them, the finals they won and lost, the records they took from the legends before them, and the nights they faced each other. It starts with questions most football fans can answer and ends with a few for people who watched every match. Play it to settle a debate with a friend, or to find out which of the two you really know better.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On what did a Barcelona director write 13-year-old Lionel Messi's first contract in December 2000?
A paper napkin
A paper napkin was the only paper Carles Rexach had to hand when Barcelona were given an ultimatum to prove they were serious about signing the boy.
Q 02Which Brazilian won the 2007 Ballon d'Or ahead of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi?
Kaká
Kaká, then at AC Milan, was the last winner before Messi and Ronaldo shared the next ten awards between them.
Q 03Which shirt number, once worn by George Best and David Beckham, did Cristiano Ronaldo get at Manchester United?
7
7 was not his choice: Ronaldo asked for 28, his old number in Lisbon, and later said the famous shirt became an extra source of motivation.
Q 04Which club did Cristiano Ronaldo join in 2018, ending nine seasons of Clásico meetings with Lionel Messi?
Juventus
Juventus paid €100 million, at the time the highest fee for a player over 30, and the rivals then met just once more in a competitive match.
Q 05Which Croatian midfielder won the 2018 Ballon d'Or, ending ten years of wins by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?
Luka Modrić
Luka Modrić had helped Real Madrid win the Champions League and Croatia reach their first World Cup final that year.
Q 06Which nation lost major finals to both Ronaldo's Portugal at Euro 2016 and Messi's Argentina at the 2022 World Cup?
France
France lost the first at home in extra time and the second on penalties, handing each rival the biggest international trophy of his career.
Q 07What kind of operation did Cristiano Ronaldo have at 15 to fix a condition that threatened to end his career?
Heart surgery
Heart surgery with a laser cured a racing heartbeat called tachycardia; Ronaldo left hospital within hours and was training again days later.
Q 08Which Major League Soccer club did Lionel Messi join in 2023, the year both rivals left European football?
Inter Miami
Inter Miami won the first trophy in their history weeks later, the Leagues Cup, with Messi finishing as its top scorer and best player.
Q 09In which city did Messi's Barcelona beat Ronaldo's Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League final?
Rome
Rome was where Messi sealed a 2–0 win with a rare header, in a match billed as a duel to decide the world's best player.
Q 10Which medical condition, diagnosed when Lionel Messi was 10, threatened his future as a professional footballer?
Growth hormone deficiency
Growth hormone deficiency therapy cost at least 1,000 pesos a month, and his father's health insurance covered only two years of it.
Q 11Which Saudi Pro League club did Cristiano Ronaldo join in 2023 after his Manchester United contract was terminated?
Al-Nassr
Al-Nassr won the Arab Club Champions Cup for the first time months later, with Ronaldo finishing as the tournament's top scorer on six goals.
Q 12At which Portuguese club did Cristiano Ronaldo begin his senior career before Manchester United signed him in 2003?
Sporting CP
Sporting CP signed him at the age of 12 for a fee of just £1,500, after a three-day trial that took him away from his island home.
Q 13In which Argentine city on the Paraná River was Lionel Messi born and raised before moving to Spain at 13?
Rosario
Rosario is also the birthplace of the revolutionary Che Guevara, and Messi grew up in its Las Heras district.
Q 21Which Manchester United midfielder's goal beat Barcelona in 2008, in the first tie between Messi and Ronaldo?
Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes scored the only goal of the two-legged Champions League semi-final, after Ronaldo had missed a penalty in the first leg.
Q 22Which manager won his first Real Madrid trophy when Ronaldo's header beat Messi's Barcelona in the 2011 cup final?
José Mourinho
José Mourinho ended Real Madrid's 18-year wait for the Copa del Rey, with the only goal coming in extra time at Valencia's Mestalla.
Q 23Whose 40-year-old record of 85 goals in a calendar year did Lionel Messi beat by scoring 91 in 2012?
Gerd Müller
Q 14Which Portuguese island, whose airport is now named after Cristiano Ronaldo, is the forward's birthplace?
Madeira
Madeira renamed its airport for him after Portugal won Euro 2016, and a bust of his head was presented at the unveiling in 2017.
Q 15In which country did Lionel Messi finally lift the World Cup in 2022, at his fifth attempt?
Qatar
Qatar staged the first World Cup played in November and December, moved from summer to avoid the heat, and Messi scored twice in the final.
Q 16Which underdog nation beat teenage Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the Euro 2004 final in Lisbon?
Greece
Greece had also beaten the hosts in the tournament's opening game, in which a 19-year-old Ronaldo scored his first international goal.
Q 17Which sportswear brand became Lionel Messi's biggest sponsor in 2006, while Cristiano Ronaldo's boots came from Nike?
Adidas
Adidas made Messi the first footballer with his own sub-brand of boots in 2015, and he became the company's leading brand endorser.
Q 18Which coach moved Lionel Messi into a 'false nine' role at Barcelona and won six trophies with him in 2009?
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola, a former Barcelona captain, had Messi drop deep from the centre of the attack to give the team an extra man in midfield.
Q 19Which coach led Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid to three straight Champions League titles from 2016 to 2018?
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane became the first coach to win the competition three years running, and did it in his first three seasons in the job.
Q 20Which former manager has Cristiano Ronaldo described as his father in sport and a key influence on his career?
Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson signed him for Manchester United at 18 for £12 million, days after Ronaldo starred against his team in a friendly.
Gerd Müller set his mark in 1972 for Bayern Munich and West Germany, and it fell when Messi scored twice against Real Betis that December.
Q 24Whose all-time record for men's international goals did Cristiano Ronaldo surpass in September 2021?
Ali Daei
Ali Daei of Iran had held the record for years, and wrote that he was honoured it would now belong to Ronaldo.
Q 25Which defender finished a close second to Lionel Messi in the 2019 Ballon d'Or vote, with Cristiano Ronaldo third?
Virgil van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk finished just seven points behind Messi after helping Liverpool win the Champions League that year.
Q 26Which substitute scored Portugal's extra-time winner in the Euro 2016 final after Cristiano Ronaldo went off injured?
Eder
Eder struck a low shot from 25 yards in the second half of extra time, long after Ronaldo had left the pitch midway through the first half.
Q 27Which German substitute's extra-time goal beat Lionel Messi's Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final?
Mario Götze
Mario Götze had come on shortly before the end of normal time, then chested down a cross and volleyed in the only goal of the match.
Q 28Which nation beat Lionel Messi's Argentina on penalties in back-to-back Copa América finals in 2015 and 2016?
Chile
Chile won both shoot-outs after goalless draws, and Messi, who missed his kick in the second, announced an international retirement he later reversed.
Q 29Which teammate's goal won the 2021 Copa América final and gave Lionel Messi his first senior international trophy?
Ángel Di María
Ángel Di María ran onto a long pass and lobbed the goalkeeper, ending Argentina's 28-year trophy drought 16 years into Messi's international career.
Q 30Which African nation knocked Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal out of the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals?
Morocco
Morocco won 1–0 through a first-half Youssef En-Nesyri goal and became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.