da dobrowin： If only Douglas Adams had had the opportunity to describe Cristiano Ronaldo in much the same way that he described the ships in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’.
da lvbet： Bricks certainly do not come close to the hang time that Ronaldo achieved to overcome Wales and, perhaps more importantly for Cristiano, Gareth Bale.
He is, for all to see, the alpha male lion that others in his pride do not challenge. Perhaps this is out of respect for his reputation, perhaps for fear of being shouted at in Portuguese by a frighteningly muscular lion with vanity issues.
None of this phased Gareth Bale though who, in this metaphor, plays the role of a much paler but more talent free kick-taking lion who was pinned to the floor in single combat with Ronaldo. The biggest competitor within the pride silenced on the European stage. The status quo resumed.
Football is inherently territorial and this European competition is threatening to become Ronaldo’s territory. The scents of Lewandowski, Muller, even Zlatan, have been washed away by resolute defenders, and only Antoine Griezmann remains to challenge Ronaldo to ownership of the goal-scoring plains of Euro 2016.
However, it is in the competition for a much wider territory – eternal historical acknowledgement as ‘the best ever’ – that Ronaldo’s true challenger emerges. Lionel Messi is the only man who can currently challenge Ronaldo, and has challenged him so successfully for the past few years. The rivalry has been delicately balanced but now Ronaldo has his opening to assert his dominance.
While Portugal have crept into a Euro final relatively unnoticed, and largely unaided by much brilliance on Ronaldo’s part, Messi’s international duty has again ended in heartbreak, despite the diminutive Argentinian’s influential performances.
His free kick against the USA made him Argentina’s all-time top scorer, but his penalty miss against Chile made him Argentina’s unluckiest genius. Another Copa America slipped through his fingertips; his third, a World Cup too. The nearly man.
The ‘86 World Cup may haunt Messi forever, especially if his international boots have been hung up too high to dust off again. After all, how can he be the best ever when he’s not even better than Maradona? Titles are everything in South America and Maradona led Argentina to the shiniest trophy of them all, something Messi fell just short of two years ago.
There’s no denying Messi’s talent. He is still that mesmerising maestro whose quick feet sat Jerome Boateng down on the floor with a large popcorn and Coke to watch the ball get exquisitely dinked over the best goalkeeper in the world. But there’s no denying the talent of Maradona either. Or Ronaldo for that matter.
In the past, World Cups and European competitions were the only chances most people would get to see the likes of Maradona and Pelé. Nowadays you can turn on Sky Sports and see Messi and Ronaldo tearing teams apart like ducks grabbing soggy bread – we all know how crazily talented they are.
However, international competitions still hold a special place in the hearts of most football fans. If someone sets a World Cup alight; you’re going to remember them. If one of the best players of all time leads his country to glory against all odds, they’re going to look like some sort of footballing demi-God (even if they can’t get a free kick on target).
Now is Ronaldo’s time. He has the opportunity to press his pristinely pedicured feet into the cement of footballing history, and finally overtake Messi. I’m not saying he’s set Euro 2016 alight, far from it in fact. He has put on various master classes in anonymity and it often looks like his teammates are frightened to pass the ball to anyone other than his majesty.
What he has done though is drag a rather abject Portugal side to a European final. Portugal haven’t really played a decent game thus far – even the performance against Wales was a bit flat. They have crawled into this final like infants crawling through a warzone. The shrapnel of such explosives as Lewandowski and Bale has missed their necks by millimetres; but fine margins are all it takes. Just ask Lionel Messi about that.
Should Portugal make it back to their mother’s arms to suckle on the teat of international glory, it may well be Ronaldo who history favours.
The ominous cloud of the 1986 World Cup has loomed over Messi for most of his life. Now an even darker Euro 2016-shaped cloud is cresting the horizon, ridden by the modern day footballing equivalent of Zeus (I’m picturing Nike CR7s in place of those sandals the Greeks loved). A lightning bolt is locked on to Messi; now it’s just up to Cristiano Ronaldo to hit the target.
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