Ronaldo was injured in the final...... That's pretty misleading.
It really isn't misleading. Ronaldo won the Euros without playing a pivotal part in the final. Messi lost the World Cup without playing a pivotal part in the final. Yet Ronaldo's achievement is greater simply by virtue of his team.
Ronaldo made it to the semis of the 2006 world cup by the way. He performed really amazingly even though it isn't backed up by statistics.
Very nice, but Messi made it to the final and performed very well statistically and qualitatively aside from underperforming in the final. But credit to Germany doing a very good job at shutting him down.
Argentina has been a far better team than Portugal for so long.
Every man and his dog knows that Argentina's team, whilst star-studded, don't perform well for their national teams. Maybe watch the matches and see if you can spot world-class players such as Di Maria, Higuain, Aguero...? Mascherano I will concede has been a beast especially during the WC 2014.
Ronaldo was pretty good in 2008, was man of the match for all group stage matches in 2010, carried Portugal to the semis in 2012,
There was no World Cup in 2008 and 2012? If you're referring to Euros, Messi also did pretty well in his respective competitions. Carried his team to 2 finals.
In Copa 2016, he had 5 goals, 3 assists and 3 MOTM performances. Yet a penalty miss in the final and he's a nobody. Copa 2015 wasn't too shabby either with 1 goal, 3 assists and set up 3 other goals.
The narrative of Messi carrying Argentina is just wrong. His teammates were really good for the most part except missing chances sometimes.
It's not a narrative. There are numerous stats regurgitated showing Argentina's success with and without Messi. And as above, they're really not. You can contrast how Higuain and Aguero perform between club and country and you will see that it goes beyond 'missing chances'. Di Maria had some good games in 2014 but has not replicated anywhere near his club forms for his team (inconsistent as he is even at club level). Not to mention the 58 goals and 37 assists in 117 appearances.