Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t pleased as he was asked questions about Lionel Messi after he ended his goalscoring drought at major tournaments on Tuesday with a brace against Uzbekistan in the FIFA World Cup 2026. Ronaldo tried to ignore an initial question about Messi before labelling another one “pointless.”
Having endured a poor game against DR Congo in which he failed to register a single shot, Ronaldo returned to form against Uzbekistan in the second Group K contest at Houston, scoring two goals. This was Ronaldo’s first goal for Portugal at a major tournament after drawing a blank in 10 consecutive games.
Eventually, Portugal won 5-0 as they took control of the group.
With his two goals, Ronaldo joined a list of top players including Messi, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, who have also scored two or more goals in a 2026 World Cup match.
Ronaldo tries to ignore Messi question
After the match, a reporter tried asking Ronaldo about Messi in the mixed zone, but the star forward shut down the question even before it could be completed.
“Yesterday, Lionel Messi scored two goals,” the reporter tried asking in Spanish before Ronaldo turned his attention to another journalist.
“Go ahead,” Ronaldo said to the next journalist.
Later, he was once again asked about the prospect of Portugal playing against Argentina in the ongoing World Cup. Not happy with the question, Ronaldo said that it was pointless to discuss conjectures, but a Portugal vs Argentina game will be “great.”
“Well, I don’t know what to answer you, because that’s a somewhat… pointless question, but anyway. It would be great,” Ronaldo said.
“But the most important thing was today. Winning to advance from the group and be prepared for what’s to come.
“We know we’ll have a tough match against Colombia, but the main objective was to get through the group and we did it. I played well, scored, helped the team. The team is doing very well, and we move on.”
Portugal next face Colombia in the final group game on Saturday.