Messi and Ronaldo

Biggest sporting event in the world concluded few days ago. And it was football world cup 2018. It started with everyone expecting great performances from their favorite stars. Most people were rooting for Messi and Ronaldo, and this was probably last world cup for the former two. Though, they can still play another one, this was last tournament near their peak playing days. The world cup didn’t end as expected for any one of these great players. Messi’s Argentina struggled since the start and Ronaldo was not enough to take Portugal beyond round of 16.

Winning World cup 2018 was really required for Messi and Ronaldo to confirm their legacy as best players ever. But it didn’t happen. Instead young French team went on to win the cup. Fans compare Messi and Ronaldo to Pele and Maradona. The latter two are world cup winners along with other trophies to cement their places as greatest players to play the game. Messi has won record number of trophies for his club Barcelona while Ronaldo led multiple teams to champions league glory. Despite so much success with club sides, they have not had much impact on their national teams (as compared to Pele and Maradona). Some football experts and fans seem to have doubts about their places in all time greats.

We have seen Messi and Ronaldo giving brilliant performances every single year for last decade. In my opinion football has evolved and so the dynamics of club football. The amount of money spent by the clubs and time playing together by players is many times more compared with national sides. And its visible in the fact that Argentina hasn’t been able to come up with perfect team around Messi. They came close in 2014 world cup and in 2 Copa América championships. But the team dynamics was missing, that is in Messi’s Barcelona sides.

Every sport needs a superstar or a super-team to remain popular and for marketing reasons. And football is blessed to have two at once. Messi and Ronaldo brought best out of each-other. I would not get into numbers. The number of goals or assists provided by either of them was unseen before. They ruled the Ballon d’Or for 10 years. Players like Iniesta, Xavi or Modric would have won multiple best player awards if they had played in different era. But level of these superstars was way above others. Many of us grew up watching their magical football and were divided on supporting either of them. Recently Ronaldo moved to Juventus from real Madrid. And it was end of an era. It was end of a decade of great footballing display, rivalry and many trophies for Spanish league. And Madrid is already finding it difficult to replace Ronaldo. Messi and Ronaldo will definitely miss other’s presence in rival teams. Though, they might meet in champions league.

When it comes to football, we would tell, we lived in times of Messi and Ronaldo. There have been thousands of articles written about them, about their skills and impact on games. So I have nothing new to write about it. This is just a small tribute to football legends we loved watching: Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo.