IN NEARLY ANY other era of football, Cristiano Ronaldo would unequivocally be regarded as the world’s best player, he is just unfortunate that he currently has the ‘little genius,’ Lionel Messi, to contend with.
Last night’s Clásico pitted these two against one another, in a relentlessly thrilling affair — “a night for which football was invented,” as eminent Spanish football journalist Graham Hunter referred to it — and one that made a mockery of German legend Franz Beckenbauer’s recent suggestion that Barcelona play ‘boring’ football.
Cristiano Ronaldo played his part in this genuinely classic encounter — looking dangerous whenever he received the ball in his opponents’ half, and giving the vulnerable Barca defence a few heart-in-mouth moments — one of which resulted in the controversial penalty that put Real Madrid 3-2 up.
Yet as good as Ronaldo was, Messi was simply on a different planet to the Portuguese international and the other 20 players on the pitch. The irrepressible attacker scored two near-perfect penalties, in addition to showing exquisite feet to somehow find space amid a considerably congested penalty area for his first goal. He also, over the course of the game, made at least three defence-splitting passes, each one more outrageous and consummately executed than the last.
And although they are two completely different players, Messi was oddly reminiscent of Roy Keane in his prime at times in front of a hostile Bernabéu crowd — he was a player hell-bent on dragging his beleaguered team to victory by continually adhering to exceptionally high standards and demonstrating a conspicuous level of perfectionism in his play, rarely mishitting a pass or making an unwise decision, à la Keane against Juventus or Holland in his heyday.
In what was the most memorable game between the sides for some time, the 26-year-old from Rosario, Santa Fe shone as he invariably tends to do on the biggest of occasions. It was therefore not surprising that he was largely responsible for the match’s definitive moment, playing a perfectly-weighted pass to Neymar. The largely ineffectual Brazilian then for once made the right decision, running across the onrushing Sergio Ramos and causing the defender to make the necessary contact for the striker to go down.
Messi’s moment of magic thus changed the game irrevocably. Despite Madrid’s protestations to the contrary, Sergio Ramos rightly received his marching orders for a record 19th time in his La Liga career, reducing the hosts to 10 men and forcing them to adopt a far more cautious set-up for the remainder of the game. Unsurprisingly, Barca did enough to overcome their opponents thereafter, as Messi typically stepped up to take responsibility and slot away two unstoppable penalties.
Hence, as he showed last night, the Argentina international has an ability to dominate games in a manner that seems incomparable in the modern era. His sheer willpower is evident in how he consistently and very demonstratively demands the ball from his colleagues, or in the ferocity with which he follows up blocked shots and rebounds.
The icy precision of the superstar’s passes is offset by the explosiveness he shows in the vicinity of the penalty area, which prompts audible excitement from his fans and visible apprehension in his opponents.
(Ronaldo’s goal could not prevent Real from losing 4-3)
Granted, Ronaldo, at his best, does the same, and there is no doubt that he is superior in some regards to his perpetual rival. The Real Madrid man appears to have very slightly superior acceleration to his colleague. In addition, you will very rarely see Messi score a header, whereas Ronaldo specialises in them. Moreover, you could even argue that the Portuguese player is the more complete or all-round footballer, and he is certainly the better athlete and more physically gifted of the two. Furthermore, he is probably even a better finisher — Ronaldo’s goals-to-games ratio in Spanish football is slightly better than Messi’s.
Yet the Argentinian’s play is laced with a grace, a genius and a finesse that neither Ronaldo nor anyone else in the world can emulate. It was fitting that the player’s most decisive act was the assist to set up the Neymar penalty, as so rarely does a player come along who’s incredibly prolific while at the same time being able to contribute so much to the general play.
For instance, another legendary player, Diego Maradona, scored 206 goals over the course of his career — an extremely impressive tally by most standards, yet one that pales in comparison to the 26-year-old’s 373 strikes and counting. Meanwhile, other past greats, such as Gerd Muller, were renowned for their goalscoring ability more so than their contributions to the general play, and Messi seems well on course to better the 487 goals that the ex-German star managed in his career.
(Messi celebrates as a dejected Ronaldo walks by him)
With such a key player injured and half-fit at times this season, Barcelona have inevitably often struggled to meet their impossibly lofty standards, but Messi’s masterclass yesterday could well be eventually looked back upon as the moment the season turned for both himself and the club. They will, accordingly, go into the final games of both La Liga and the Champions League with a renewed sense of confidence, primarily thanks to Messi’s inspirational feats.
And having been somewhat slow to get back into his stride following an extended absence through injury, Messi has subsequently demonstrated breathtaking form not just last night, but also in recent clashes with Osasuna and Manchester City. For a player whose workload has been almost uniquely intense, given the number of games himself and other Barca stars have had to play in recent seasons owing to countless European and international commitments, coupled with the standard domestic schedule, the aforementioned injury could turn out to be a tremendous blessing in disguise. It gave Messi a vital opportunity to enjoy some much-needed rest and recuperation ahead of what is surely the most important year of his career.
Winning either or both of La Liga and the Champions League would be astonishing achievements in themselves, yet for a player who has effectively won everything for his club, such an outcome would hardly be received with an overwhelming sense of surprise.
Consequently, winning the World Cup this summer with Argentina would surely represent his greatest achievement and it is also ostensibly the one that would mean the most to him from a personal perspective. Having struggled to win the support of the Argentinian public initially for a number of complex reasons, he is only now beginning to be truly embraced by his countrymen. If he emulates the success of the nation’s most beloved icon, Diego Maradona — who has already described Messi as his “successor” – and improbably inspires Argentina to victory at the World Cup, he will undoubtedly consolidate his status as a national icon.
Moreover, should the player who has won everything else triumph on the international stage, people will finally stop questioning his place among the greats and start asking if there was anyone greater.
