Football is called the beautiful game. However, it is also perhaps the most wrathful. Neither has it spared anyone, nor will it; ever. Ever since the beautiful game gained its popularity, there have been players across generations who have been the flag bearers of it. Players who revolutionized the game in more ways than one. When Argentina won the World Cup in the summer of 1986, Diego Maradona emerged as a philosopher. Pele still had his flair, but Maradona was placed in a Godly status because he won the World Cup. It was all about Maradona and Pele in the 70s and 80s, and although times have changed, the comparisons haven’t. It’s just a set of two new players; it will always be.
Back to where we find ourselves now. We’ve found our game. It’s Messi and Ronaldo now. While the debate rages on among idle pub-dwellers, the slim chance of any amicable compromise only chased further away by the emptying of every pint glass; for players, the question lingers only as a peripheral notion, a baseless subjective abstraction that few on the inside would ever likely need to ponder at all. Still there exists two players in today’s game around whom the matter centers more often than most, and for whom the question has become increasingly pertinent in recent years. Despite over almost a decade of unparalleled and unprecedented success that Messi and Ronaldo have got used to in their illustrious careers, the topic of the comparison of the two prodigies never ceases.
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Here is an attempt to find closure to the never ending debate of comparing Messi and Ronaldo and more specifically if it makes any sense altogether?
Because Even Results Don't Matter In Their Case
You’ll find people from both the factions, who while singing carols in praise of one would on the other side be completely ignorant of the football brain that the other player is blessed with. And somehow, all this just doesn’t seem wrong. A person might argue that this is what happens when you reach the summit of the sport, but we should ask the question if there is a possible way to justify this. Perhaps, there has been no one before who has faced the wrath of being so ahead of their times as Messi and Ronaldo.
In 2016, when Ronaldo lifted the Euro Cup with Portugal after their victory over hosts France, the world and the entire football fraternity seemed to have found the answer to their question. The impertinent question of who is better between the two players. However, is this what should be done?
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We've Forgotten Legends Of Yesterday
The near-mythological status of football’s yesteryear stars like Maradona and Pele was brutally snatched away from them and handed over to two young kids from Argentina and Portugal. But, will this end here? When Ronaldo and Messi bid goodbye to the football world, will that perhaps be the time when we would stop comparing the two; or are we just going to find a new Messi and Ronaldo for ourselves?
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And We Also Fail to Acknowledge Today's Greats
Sure, many things are inescapable here, and one of them is pitting these two superstars head to head, sometimes when the debate isn’t even valid. People have started comparing others’ achievements by these two. The matter of the fact is, we live in blessed times to have witnessed players like Messi and Ronaldo. However, the blind eye we often turn towards the achievements of others is shameful. Players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski among others have become a victim of the times so much so that despite being consistent throughout their illustrious careers, they find it hard to make it to the eternal folklore of the beautiful game.
(Image Courtesy: Goal.com)
It Mounts Unexpected Pressure On Potential Prospects
For future players too, the benchmarks have been set by our uphill expectations of them performing just like the best players of our time. To understand how harsh this has been for them, the simple fact that they are often addressed as the next Messi or the next Ronaldo sum up the entire situation. As villainous as this game gets, we fans have it made it even tougher for other players to flourish. We often fail to realize that this is perhaps the best time to live and enjoy football. With so many players bringing so much to the table, the beautiful game has never been so competitive. However, all of us just seem to be caught up in our premonition of finding answers to the question that we created ourselves.
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Because No One Is Bigger Than The Game
Messi vs. Ronaldo makes no sense. It snatches away the essence of the game; a ball game that is played with twenty-two men on the pitch, not two.
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In the end, let us wish the birthday boy. Happy Birthday, Messi.
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