This Saturday, Spain defeated Georgia 4–0 on Matchday 5 of Group E within the European qualifiers and moved inside one step of securing their place within the FIFA World Cup 2026. There, Fabian Ruiz surpassed Zinedine Zidane and reached a formidable milestone that not even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo managed to realize.
With the win over Georgia, Ruiz reached 40 consecutive matches with the Spain nationwide crew with out struggling a defeat. That streak started together with his worldwide debut in 2019 and has continued to at the present time. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder moved previous Zidane, who with France went 39 matches with out dropping between 1997 and 2001.
Fabian Ruiz now sits in third place within the all-time rating. Above him are solely two retired gamers: Spain’s Carlos Marchena (57 matches from 2003 to 2010) and Brazil’s Mane Garrincha (49 matches from 1955 to 1966).
The Spanish participant’s spectacular numbers converse to his huge influence on the crew, serving as a key piece for head coach Luis De la Fuente. However in addition they present a big factor of luck. Between 2019 and the current, Spain have misplaced a couple of match, however he was not on the sphere for any of them.
Zinedine Zidane went 39 matches and not using a loss with France.
Spain’s most up-to-date loss got here in a pleasant towards Colombia in 2024, and that day Ruiz was a substitute and didn’t come on. The identical factor occurred in 2023, in a Euro qualifier towards Scotland. Going additional again is the FIFA World Cup 2022, through which Spain misplaced a match towards Japan. Nevertheless, Ruiz was not known as up for that event. Conditions like these return a number of years and assist clarify Fabian’s exceptional streak.
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How does Cristiano Ronaldo examine to Ruiz?
Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time main scorer in worldwide soccer, with 143 targets in 226 matches for Portugal since his debut in 2003. Nevertheless, he has by no means come near a streak just like the one Fabian Ruiz is posting with Spain.
Ronaldo’s longest unbeaten run with Portugal got here between March 2005 and July 2006. Throughout that stretch, the ahead went 17 consecutive matches with out defeat on the worldwide degree, together with friendlies, European qualifiers, and 4 matches on the FIFA World Cup 2006. Nevertheless, that streak ended with a 1–0 loss to France within the semifinals of that event.
What number of matches did Messi go unbeaten with Argentina?
Lionel Messi, not like Cristiano Ronaldo, exhibits stronger numbers with Argentina. Since his debut in 2005, the ahead has put collectively a number of vital unbeaten streaks together with his nationwide crew. Two of them stand out specifically.
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The primary stretched to 27 matches, from November 2011 to July 2014. This included friendlies, South American qualifiers, and practically the whole World Cup 2014. The streak broke on the worst doable second, with the 1–0 loss to Germany within the remaining in Rio de Janeiro.
Years later, nevertheless, Messi reached 30 consecutive matches with out defeat with Argentina. That streak started in July 2019, after dropping the Copa America semifinals towards Brazil. For greater than three years, Lionel Scaloni’s crew performed friendlies, qualifiers, Copa America 2021, and the Finalissima 2022 with out dropping a single match.
The loss got here, similar to the earlier time, on the World Cup. It occurred within the memorable opener at Qatar 2022, when Argentina unexpectedly fell 2–1 to Arabia Saudita. Thankfully for Messi, they recovered afterward and went on a triumphant run all the best way to the unforgettable remaining win towards France.
