Having won their opening two matches, Lionel Messi's Argentina have already secured qualification for the knockout stage as group winners.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, meanwhile, remain on course for the Round of 32 after drawing with DR Congo before crushing Uzbekistan. The question now is could Messi and Ronaldo finally meet at a World Cup if both teams advance? And if so, at what stage?

Based on the tournament bracket as it currently stands, if Argentina and Portugal both finish as group winners, they could meet in the quarter-finals. If that happens, it would mark the first World Cup meeting between Messi and Ronaldo.

Argentina’s Round of 32 opponent would be the runners-up from Group H. At the moment, that position is occupied by Uruguay.

Portugal, however, are currently second in their group. To finish top, they must defeat Colombia in their final group match.

If Portugal do win the group, their likely Round of 32 opponent would come from the third-placed teams in Groups D, E, I, J or L. For a Messi-Ronaldo showdown to occur in the quarter-finals, both teams would first need to win their Round of 32 and Round of 16 matches.

Interestingly, had both Argentina and Portugal finished second in their respective groups, they could have met as early as the Round of 16.