How many goals would Lionel Messi have scored in European World Cup Qualifying? | ESPN FC Extra Time 

Messi just exposed ronaldo's secret of having most international goals 🤣

South American World Cup qualifications is like a war zone compared to Europe

Ask Colombia or Chile fans how hard it is to qualify. These are sides that you'd wager would take an England to penalties in a knockout phase.

Messi would have so many goals if he played for Spain. Including 2 Euros and a World Cup.

Just playing San Marino , Cyprus, and Estonia every two years each will tally him atleast 20 in a ten plus year career like his he’d score easily 100

It's been ages since ESPN talked sense, but today they did. It's a miracle!

See..Messi is not about scoring goals only..Messi is also about making other players to score goals..

Imagine if Argentina was in the Concacaf? Goal scoring against 2nd tier teams like Haiti, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada etc..Messi would have over 1800 goals.

Just imagine prime Messi playing in Europe every years like Cr7

I've always supported Japan in World Cups since 2006 and that won't change but I'll hope Argentina go and win it all this time around.

Messi has scored these goals for Argentina playing so deep like a midfielder and that's what surprises me the most.

Messi certainly would have scored a lot more than he currently has, I'd back him to be somewhere in the 140 - 160 range in terms of goals, and the stats back the fact he'd have scored more. Here's some fun facts for those who mentioned Messi playing friendlies for his numbers. The Fifa ranking goes from 1 - 211 right now, obviously the higher your number the weaker the team likely is. Ronaldo's games vs teams ranked 100 and weaker - 32 games, and 30 goals (that's just an amazing number of those games to have played) Messi's games vs teams ranked 100 and above - 7 games and 12 goals. Ronaldo has played almost 5 times more games against such opposition This continues.... Ronaldo vs teams ranked 80 and weaker - 54 games and 49 goals (an amazing number of games and goals) Messi vs teams ranked 80 and weaker - 16 games and 21 goals (even better) Approximately 42% of Ronaldo's international goals have come from Estonia type opponents (41.9%) Approximately 24% of Messi's international goals have come from Estonia type opponents (24.4%) In terms of games played against really weak International teams (80 and above) Approximately 29% of every international game Ronaldo has played is against Estonia type opponent, for better context, think "For every 3 - 4 games on average he plays opponents like this once" (28.7%) Approximately 10% of every international game Messi has played is against Estonia type opponent, for context, think "For every 10 games on average, he plays an opponent like this once" (9.9%) Friendlies is where Messi gets the chance to play more diverse opposition depending on scheduling, both weak and strong, but mostly strong as seen by him only playing 16 games against those you'd consider really weak, Ronaldo on the other hand has to play these teams in 2 cycles of qualifiers for the last 18 years, no fault of his own of course, it's just how things are, but when looking at their International goal records, this should let you understand context. Messi's still seems to be better than Ronaldo in terms of goal contribution on the International level, despite this real handicap. Messi now has 86 goals and 49 assists in 162 games, which is 135 goal contribution at a rate of 0.83 per game Ronaldo's numbers are at 117 goals and 32 assists in 188 games, which is 149 goal contributions at a rate of 0.79 per game

It's even funny thinking about it 😂 He'd annihilate them.

About time people asked these questions. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, San Marino, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Slovakia, Finland, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Andorra, Gibraltar, Lichtenstein, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine etc etc

Messi has always been going up against the likes of Chile, Columbia, Uraguay, Mexico and Brazil his whole life. Every world cup qualifier its been like that. European teams on the other hand have been playing lexumburg, latvia, morocco, montenegro, etc. Its an easy road to qualify in europe. In south america all the heavy weights play one another.

First time Messi played one of the teams Ronaldo scores hattricks against, he scored 5 goals. Hope you all get it now

Ali said it right.. the pressure is gone now .. now every one will see pressure free Messi with Argentina

Cr7 fans we understand estonia is a crappy team, but cr7 himself played against teams like this for the past 18 years

Messi would definitely have 100+ international goals if he faced teams like Estonia more often like other European sides have.

This is a no brainer. Messi would’ve scored 140+ easily, had he played the Europe qualifiers.

Messi just proved that playing against these teams is easy and no wonder Ronaldo getting Hatricks against these teams and increasing his international goal tally.

Just as i suspected. Once a 🐐 always a 🐐

(If Messi played in Europe): MESSI right now would've been the top international scorer in the World...... guaranteed 💯💯💯

I think he would have scored over 150+ goals

Pendu plays these teams every single time and snuck into goat debate 🫡🫡😒

Around 200 goals for sure

Simple answer : A lot

Imagine if Messi had chosen Spain. He’d have 150 goals+ easy

I’d argue that the African qualifiers are the most difficult of all the continental World Cup qualifiers considering the very little difference in quality between the top teams and underdogs and the fact that 50 nations have to fight for just 5 places

make him play half the number of games that ronaldo has played against such low rated teams and he's easily breaking that highest goalscorer record

This host is one of the happiest men in the world. He really loves his job. He’s always smiling and laughing.

😂messi would have had like 200 international goals playing lithuania, pharoah islands, san marino.... Been saying this for ages...

I’m a proud American, but my ancestors were Welsh. So if USA and Wales make it out of the group, that would be amazing.

Messi would score 1000000000000 goals MESSI FUSSION ☀️

You got love Gab face reaction.

Minimum he would've scored 100+ including 50+ assists.

in Some South-American countries like Bolivia , they literally stop the game sometimes and give players oxygen masks to help their breathing that's how hard it is to play there , many of the pitches are aweful and the majority of the teams are hard to play against , Europe has by the far the worst qualifiers , the distance between the top tier teams and the rest is mind-blowing

Messi is a goat 🐐

Great point there Gabi, on Messi's

A lot more, that’s for sure.

Gab is a very smart guy.

Ive always said this for yrs. All South American National teams are fully professional. In Europe you have a good third of the teams that are semi pro and amateur level. Im speaking of, Andorra, Luxemburg, Liechenstein, Estonia, Gibraltar, San Marino, Armenia, Faroe Islands, Moldova, Malta, Latvia, Georgia, Belarus, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Cyprus ect are just to name a few but there are alot more. None in South America go lower than 78 FIFA ranking. Usually 80. And the other 9 are usually top 50 in the world. They had 5/6 national sides at one point in the top 20 for decades. Especially Brazil Argentina Uruguay Colombia and Chile recently. Plus the weather conditions in South America and pitches are way worse depending where you play and you have huge humidity and altitude matches which you cannot find in Europe. Thats why Pele Ronaldo Batistuta Romario ect never scored as many as Puskas Cristiano Ronaldo ect. The Americas goal record stood for that long for a reason under Pele which was 77 international goals for over 50+ yrs.

Messi is on fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Don is So Smart !

Leo the god of football 🔥🔥❤️❤️

Fun facts : Ronaldo Vs Estonia- 5 Goals in 7 Games ⚽️ Messi VS Estonia- 5 Goals in 1 Game⚽️ Too bad Leo Messi isn’t European.If he played teams like Luxembourg,Macedonia, Lithunia,Lativa,Estonia,Malta,Andorra to qualify for the WC or Euros,he would have like 200 Internet goals at minimum 💁‍♂️

Gab always makes more sense than other guys. :)

this is why Cristiano's "record" is a joke when he scores 30 goals against latvia, lithuania, andorra, etc. Messi is far better than Cristiano against worst opposition. He is more technical and can expose teams all by himself. He would unironically have over 150 goals by now.

For the first time ESPN make sense to me about Leo Messi

The greatest of all time king Leo messi 👑 ❤️

8:10 chile’s golden generation did wonders

3:33 *Ale pops out of Gab’s background Ale: You wot m8?

Thank God you guys brought this up. Messi would’ve been a Goalssi

Didn’t they both played in spain and champions league? Go by the stats then 🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♂️

Why is Gab blinking so much. 3:21 😂

Steve: “When I grew up, going to the a dentist was like going to jail” 😂😅🤣 Dead

For a guy that got his bachelor and his masters from an Ivy League school, Gab must be laughing when he has to work with Don.

what about if messi played for premier league this season, how many goals would he score?

Gab blinked more in this video than I have my whole life!

I'd love to see Messi win the WC. Also, as a Scotsman, I hope Wales do well.

The most difficult region is Conmebol, it is pretty obvious. UEFA is a few whales and then a bunch of sardines/minnows

Messi is and will always be the goat. Crazy how people say he’s finished, his “bad” stats this season would have made other players look good.

Pele, Ronaldo De lima, Ronaldinho, Baptistuta, Maradona, Suarez etc all played in South America yet Messi is the highest goal scorer in south America. imagine if these players played against all those lowly ranked teams in Europe, they would score a whole lot, now imagine Messi playing in Europe, it would be a whole bunch of goals

This was a friendly game vs Estonia.

He'd have 150+ easily

league 1, finalissima, and with these 5 goals in 1 match, Ballon d'Or deserves to be given to messi 🐐

Bring back Best of the Week!!!

Playing san marino or estonia will get u a lot of goals surely

Messi would be closer too 200 than 100, and that says a lot. Hitting 100 goals in South America is tougher than 200 in Europe lol

Spain lived up to it's golden generation achieved 2 European titles and a WC.

Willie miller, Jim Leighton etc

THE CLASS OF 87!!!!! FCBARCELONA MESSI, INIESTA AND XAVI AND THE REST💕⚽️⭐️❤️🐐

Makes me laugh when the anti Messi brigade say teams like Bolivia and Venezuela are comparable to nations like Estonia, Lithuania, San Marino, etc. Those teams are far ahead of the lesser European nations. Facing Bolivia at altitude is anything but an easy game, even for sides like Argentina and Brazil. I've no doubt Messi would have a better international goal to game ratio than Ronaldo if he got to face the minnows Ronaldo does in qualifying.

Messi=goat

Gab is something else.

Feel better Marcotti. Your voice is sick.

You dont play estonia and teams like that every game man. So he had ine big scoring night in a year against estonia in a freaking friendly and we are straight back to what ifs.

Would Mbappe wanna play for a strict manager like Mourinho? No lol

9:45 Gab's utter confusion at Don's inability to understand "golden generation" as an age-related category is hilarious. Never change, Don.

I would love to see Messi as a converted left back like Ashley young vs the likes of Guingamp and Troyes in the ninetieth minute.

The last time ronaldo faced Estonia was 2016,and it was not evn a friendly match they won 7-0,their rank is 118 or something like that,they rarely come in any competition lol

Pendu would have switched allegiances if he had the chance to go to Spain.

Straight to the point please

ESPN fc talking sense ...rare moments

Depending what team he’s on he could have more than now. but Argentina also plays some gimmes to

Leo would have 200 intl goals if he choose to play for Spain, he proved vs Estonia that he deserve the bdor this year. Penzema getting beaten by Denmark while Leo destroy Estonia

Messi Bias ESPN 🤩

South American Qualifiers may not have the player quality all across the board, but the stadiums you have to play in are brutal. There are teams that would have no chance on the road then dominate at home. In Europe you play minnows quite a bit to qualify and they do not exactly have fortress stadiums.

He would have more qualifying goals, but instead of having a chance every year to win a 2-team tournament he'd have to try once every 4 to win the one with the best teams. More goals, but probably no trophies.

It's stupid how a friendly is over shadowing what Bale just did with wales.

Gab blinks for every syllable for each word

Stevie is hilarious

Like messi scored 70 goals in farmer league this year😂😂

He would have scored alot because the worst teams in Conmebol are as good as mid tier teams in Europe. Alot of European teams draw easy groups in qualifying and get to play teams San Marino, Gibraltar and Moldova

What are the odds I have a dentist appointment tomorrow as well 😭

I lost count how many times Gab blinked

I thought mbappe said it’s easier playing in South America compared to Europe

So there are no soft teams in South America just Europe? These Messi fans so sickening…. N oh no it’s d first Messi ever play against European teams.. so sickening

This was a friendly

Gab is smart enough to admit it... And then there are those Marine Biologists...