Anything Ron Can Do...

Superlatives fail most folk when attempting to describe the raw genius of Lionel Messi. I can’t actually think of another player that has consistently reached dizzy new heights year on year at the very top level of football. I don’t even think the fact that a lot of football fans were not able to witness the likes of Pele, Cruyff, Maradonna et al in their playing days is a handicap to our experiences – we genuinely must be witnessing the best player to have graced the sport.

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the best footballer ever to have played the game – but has he achieved enough at international level to earn the tag?

(Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)

  

It must be wholly infuriating, therefore, for one particular Portuguese gentleman to have to continually try and answer his critics and analysts in the shadow of what Messi repetitively achieves. I am not talking about Luis Boa Morte (with all due respect), but of one Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.

Having left the red side of Manchester in 2009 for the warmer climes of Madrid, three years on and the eye-watering fee of £80 million paid by Los Blancos would appear to have been justified several times over. In fact, if press reports were anything to go by, Real had made the fee back in less than a year in shirt sales alone (although it all went towards paying off the astronomical loans taken out to bankroll the “New Galacticos”). He has notched up 160 goals in 155 games in all competitions – 120 of those coming in 108 La Liga fixtures to date. It’s a phenomenal record for a quite fabulous player. He must be all but irritated that his career has coincided with that of the pint-sized Argentinian maestro.

Ronaldo has been prolific for Real Madrid since his world record breaking signing in June 2009. He also came agonisingly close to helping Portugal reach the Euro 2012 final this summer.

(Photograph: Reuters)

Ronaldo’s dedication to developing himself into the complete athlete is evident; combining the pace and strength of a track and field star with the gracefully quick feet and split second decision making of a black-belt martial artist. Things which have come into question throughout his career however are his attitude towards his teammates, gaining a reputation as a “sulker” and as being selfish when he has the ball at his feet. It seems that some fans feel that he believes that he has some form of God-given right to have the football as and when he demands it.

The reality, I think, is that he simply wants to win. He wants to achieve everything that is possible in the game, and when he is impeded, he does not like it. He has of course won the coveted title of being the world’s best player in 2008, but would undoubtedly have won it every year since had it not been for the eternal rise of Leo Messi. The latter has claimed the prize (as a varying combination of both the FIFA World Player of the Year and the FIFA Ballon D’or), along with a raft of silverware with Barcelona, for three consecutive years. This in itself has never been done in the modern era, and it will certainly be between both he and Ronaldo as to who is crowned again.

Messi has also, surprisingly, had his status lowered due to his limited success with Argentina. The pinnacle of his international career came at the Beijing Games 2008 where he won gold, but this has been viewed as insufficient in putting him on the same shelf as the likes of his compatriot Diego Maradonna. In his defence, international football is a very different prospect to what it once was. The pace and skill involved in football today is of a far higher level, and the majority of players, no matter where they are from in the world, will play their football for a top European club team if they are anything close to the level enjoyed by Messi and Ronaldo. Pele, for example, never played for a European club, instead plying his trade in the Americas, which some would say contributed to his goal scoring record. 

That said, the man won three World Cup tournaments - in 1970 being part of one of the greatest footballing sides ever witnessed. With Messi having won everything there is to win in Spain, along with his European trophies and individual accolades, every single English football fan would give a limb to see him play in the Premier League. Afterall, Ronaldo has now played for the two biggest and most valuable teams on the planet, scoring copious goals and winning numerous trophies with each. All he needs now is the Champions League with Real and he can say that he has near enough won it all - a dream he shares with boss Jose Mourinho. 

It is fair to say that, while CR7 may always be playing catch-up with Messi, it will only be to the benefit of football as a whole. If an already driven and successful footballer still strives to better himself season on season, it will spur the rest of the game to follow suit. The English top-tier has already reaped the benefits of an ever improving standard of player - be it homegrown or from abroad. This summer saw the introduction of talents such Eden Hazard, Santi Cazorla, and Olivier Giroud to the Premier League; a sign that it remains the most competitive league in the world, and also the most avidly followed. 

So, what we can certainly conclude with here is, aside from the fact that comparisons between these two footballing heavyweights are near enough pointless, the fact that we are able to watch them fight it out at the very top puts us in a very special club. 

It also begs the question - when will they stop being so damn good?