“Old soldiers don’t die. They just fade away.”
It’s a line from a military song sung by British soldiers during World War I. In April 1951, it was quoted by General Douglas MacArthur, a hero of the Pacific and Korean Wars, in his farewell address to a joint session of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as he left the military. As the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, MacArthur’s words reflected the feelings of a veteran hero who had led the United States to victory in World War II, and who was stepping down after 52 years of military service after trying to fulfill his duty.
But he seems to have forgotten the word disappearance: his passion is endless. It’s not just his heart and attitude that are dedicated to the game. His skills are the best in the world of soccer. Lionel Messi (37-Inter Miami CF) and Cristiano Ronaldo (39-Alnasli) are the two players who can be called ‘gods’.
And that’s not all. In fact, the Feast of Records is also very much worth watching. It’s all about setting new records that will be forgotten. It’s not that simple. Even the biggest stars in the world are breaking records that would be difficult to match, and they’re doing it constantly.
In October 2024,
Messi and Ronaldo were the record-breakers they always are. As if to shout “I’m alive and well” to the world of soccer, they set another record. And they did it in a way that left fans and experts alike jaw-dropping. Messi scored his sixth “BACK-TO-BACK” hat trick (three goals). Ronaldo became the world’s most prolific scorer after the age of 30.
Messi scores sixth back-to-back hat trick… Ronaldo breaks world record for most goals scored after age 30
In the 2024-2025 Saudi Professional League (SPL) and UEFA Nations League (UNL) in October, Ronaldo was playing on a small pitch. He scored one goal each in the SPL against Al Orobah (3-0) and Al Shabab (2-1), and in the UNL against Poland (3-1) on Sept. 12 while playing for Portugal. Extending his run to September, 카지노사이트 he has scored in four consecutive games in the SPL, starting with a 3-0 win at Al Ittifaq (20th).
Of those, the game against Al Oroba was a monumental one. Ronaldo took a huge step into the world soccer record books when he scored the opening goal in the 17th minute. First, he reached the milestone of scoring in 600 games, and then he broke another new ground: 442 goals. 442 goals, enough to become the world record holder for most goals scored by a player under the age of 30.
It’s a new record after 17 years. The previous record, set in 2007 by Homariu (58-Brazil), one of the greatest strikers of all time, was finally broken. Born in 1966, Homariu had scored 441 goals after the age of 30 (1996-2007). After reaching a new milestone in the last five days, Ronaldo has now taken three more steps to reach 444 goals as of April 24 (see table).
Born in 1985, Ronaldo has defied his age for nine years, starting in 2015.
He has scored more goals (261) in national leagues (La Liga, Serie A, Premier League, SPL) than any other player in history, bouncing from Real Madrid to Juventus to Manchester United to Alnasr. He has also scored 81 goals in A-matches.
In October, Messi surpassed Ronaldo’s tally. He scored eight goals in U.S. Major League Soccer (UMLS), including two against the Columbus Crew (3-3-2), three against the New England Revolution (6-2), and three against Bolivia (6-0) in South American qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It was an explosion of goals reminiscent of his prime.
It wasn’t just a feeling. It was more than just a feeling, it was an objective number. In those two games, against New England and Bolivia, he set a rare and valuable record. He scored a hat trick in two consecutive games, or, to borrow a baseball phrase, a back-to-back hat trick.
The New England game, in particular, was unimaginable. After coming on as a substitute and playing just 33 minutes, he scored the last three goals of the game to seal the come-from-behind victory. It was his second hat trick as a substitute after his first came on June 10, 2016, in a 5-0 win over Panama in the CONMEBOL Copa America. It was also the 13th game in which he scored two or more goals as a substitute.
This was not just a one-off.
It was the sixth hat trick in two consecutive games in his career. That’s six times in a row, which is a record that most of us can only dream of achieving once, but Messi is Messi (see table).
Messi returned to the back-to-back hat trick zone for the first time in nearly a decade. The last time he did it was in 2014, when he was with Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona. The last time he scored three goals each in a 5-1 win over Sevilla in La Liga and a 4-0 win over Apoel in the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
The first chapter opened 13 years ago. In 2011, he scored back-to-back hat tricks against RCD Mallorca in La Liga (5-0) and Victoria Plzen in the UCL (4-0).
As you can see in the table, the IFFHS [International Federation of Football Hockey Histories and Statistics] has taken a broad interpretation of a hat trick and counted Messi’s record: three or more goals are considered a hat trick, regardless of the cricket-derived etymology. Messi has two back-to-back hat tricks, one with five goals (Repoque) and one with four (Fokker).
Messi and Ronaldo have moved their nests from the center of the field to the periphery as they look toward the age of 40. In Europe’s top five leagues, the most competitive in the world, they’ve been pushed to the periphery, as if they’ve been forced out. But the old man is still going strong. They may be old tigers – or maybe rejuvenated tigers – but Messi and Ronaldo are still as good as ever in front of the foxes and rabbits.