CRISTIANO Ronaldo only spent 24 of the 120 minutes it took to decide the Euro 2016 final on Sunday evening on the field and was only fully fit for the first eight of those.

The challenge from Dimitri Payet of France that injured the feted Portuguese forward's left knee meant he was unable to influence proceedings to any great degree in Saint-Denis.

Admirably, the Real Madrid superstar put the disappointment he felt at being ruled out of the meeting with the host nation so early on to one side and cajoled and cheered on his team mates from the sidelines. Yet, he can take little credit for the 1-0 triumph that was secured against all the odds courtesy of a goal in the 19th minute of extra-time from substitute Eder.

The fact that Fernando Santos’ side – unfairly dismissed, given the presence of Raphael Guerreiro, Rui Patricio and Pepe, by some in the preceding month as effectively a one man team – prevailed without their captain and talisman made their win all the more remarkable.

Victory with his country in the European Championship finals in France this summer, though, has strengthened Ronaldo’s claims to be one of the all-time greats of the beautiful game. He has now succeeded at the very highest level with both club and country. That is something his contemporary and great rival Lionel Messi is, for all of his accomplishments, unable to say.

Messi announced his retirement from international football following Argentina’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Chile in the final of the Copa America at the end of last month. It was the fourth final Messi had been involved in during his 113 caps and the fourth time he had failed to end a winless streak that stretches back to 1993.

There can be no doubting the Barcelona forward’s place in football’s pantheon of legends. Many knowledgeable fans, players and managers argue convincingly he is the greatest who has ever lived and has no equal either in the present or in the past.

He has certainly excelled with Argentina as well as Barcelona. At the World Cup in Brazil two years ago he was the third top goalscorer and received the Golden Ball award handed out to the best player. But, of course, he was unable to help his homeland win when it really mattered in the Maracana. A Mario Gotze goal in extra-time ensured it was Germany who triumphed.

In playing a part, albeit a small one, in helping Portugal secure the first major honour in their history on Sunday evening Ronaldo has edged ahead of his peer in one important area and joined a distinguished group of luminaries. Franco Baresi, Franz Beckenbauer, Ruud Gullit, Maradona, Gerd Muller, Pele, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Zindeine Zidane and now Ronaldo have all won with club and country.

Messi has not. The 29-year-old is not alone in that failing. Johan Cruyff was famously unable to savour the glory he enjoyed with Ajax and Barcelona with the Netherlands. Still, the suspicion remains in Argentina that Messi was, despite scoring no fewer than 55 goals in the 11 years he represented them, never quite as invested or interested as when he turned out for Barcelona.

That could, in part, be attributed to his reserved nature. But the same accusation couldn’t, for all his flaws, be levelled at Maradona who remains, perhaps as a result of his fallibility, a far more adored and revered figure among his compatriots.

Ronaldo, too, has always shown the same burning desire representing Portugal as he has turning out for Manchester United or Real. His distress as he was stretchered off midway through the first half in Paris was obvious. His joy as he lifted the Henri Delaunay Cup in the Stade de France was unconfined.

The 31-year-old equalled the record for goals scored in the European Championship during qualifying when he netted his 23rd effort. His header in the 2-0 win over Wales in the semi-final took his tally in the finals to nine. Only Platini has scored as many.

Ronaldo also, along with his Real team mate Pepe, became only the eighth man to lift the Champions League or European Cup along with the European Championship in the same season. Only Luis Suarez (Inter Milan and Spain in 1964), Berry van Aerle, Hans van Breukelen, Wim Kieft, Ronald Koeman and Gerald Vanenburg (PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands in 1988) and Fernando Torres and Juan Mata (Chelsea and Spain in 2012) have done it before.

Ronaldo and Messi have, due to their similar ages and abilities and the fact they play on opposite sides for the two biggest clubs in Spain, frequently been compared to each other over the years. Whenever the argument about who is better resumes in the future, the former can point to his Euro 2016 victory with Portugal as a sound reason why he is the best.