Amidst the fight for supremacy between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, fans and media often failed to highlight how this battle has been set up and how these players have been molded into the best 2 footballers on the planet. Itai??i??s a fascinating coincidence than the tale of the rise of two legends happened in the same time period.
Kick-Off!
The season of 2002-03 for Ronaldo and 2003-04 for Messi seem pretty much similar. At their age of 17, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shot into the top tier leagues. Debut in the top league looks so easy from outside. But, what they both did was (to be selected) to play at all the levels in the same season. Cristiano played in Sporting’s under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team and first team in 2002-03. Messi played in Juvenil B, Juvenil A, FC Barcelona C, FC Barcelona B and FC Barcelona first team in 2003-04. The key difference between their league entry is that Cristiano landed in Sporting Lisbon, the third most successful Portuguese club (in terms of domestic titles), whereas Messi landed in FC Barcelona, the 7th richest club in the world in 2003-04 (in terms of income) priming to dominate European football in the next decade.
Face Off!
The gap ought to be closed for the burgeoning legends to mount the challenge head on. That happened in 2 stages. The first step is when Cristiano was signed by Manchester United, the richest club in the world in 2003-04 (in terms of income). Great talents are accessed early by Great Managers. Sir Alex Ferguson insisted Ronaldo to take up jersey 7 previously worn by George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. The second step is when Cristiano was signed by Real Madrid which overtook Manchester United as the richest club in the world in 2004-05 and still remains there. These 2 steps closed the gap and took him into the stage to mount the challenge against the only other competitor in the planet Lionel Messi.
Warm Up!
Look at their formative years (18 to 24 years of age)! During his six seasons (2003-04 to 2008-09 season) in Manchester United, Ronaldo helped the team to gain more and more league points and trophies. In these six seasons, he has helped the team to win 3 back to back league titles and a Champions league. In the same time for Messi (2005-06 to 2010-11 season), Lionel Messi helped FC Barcelona win 3 consecutive La Liga titles and 2 Champions League titles (Though Lionel Messi won Champions League in 2005-06 and La Liga title in 2004-05, Lionel Messi wasnai??i??t the key influencer or contributor). They both landed into Balon dai??i??Or scene around the same year 2007 (2nd and 3rd positions). Ever since 2008, with the exception of AndrAi??s Iniesta in 2010 (2nd position), both of them occupied the first two positions in Balon dai??i??Or race.
Legends on the same stage!
Since Real Madrid wanted to mount challenge on FC Barcelona for supremacy, it takes a legend to take on another legend. Thus they went on to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. The stage was set for the rock stars to battle for the fiercest rivals in football history. So here are 2 players around 25 years of age, already having won Balon dai??i??Or, Champions League and League titles, they are now set for competing for supremacy. In this race, both of them will achieve supremacy and retain it for quite some time but the way they do it differs.
There are 3 factors which differentiates their way of ascendancy to supremacy: Attributes, Supporting stars and Attitude.
Attributes
Cristiano Ronaldo plays a very direct style that perfectly fitted in Real Madrid. Lionel Messi plays a very smooth flowing style that was honed by FC Barcelona. Statistics reinforce this fact. Cristianoai??i??s play masters the shots directed at opponents whereas Lionelai??i??s play masters the flair passing game within opponentai??i??s legs. These are re-emphasized by data as shown in the image:
Supporting stars
Ronaldo is/was supported by fast and dynamic players like Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, Angel di Maria, Mezut Ozil, Toni Kroos and Xabi Alonso. Messi is/was supported by flair passing players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar Jr and Cesc Fabregas. They both generally form an ecosystem of players around them who feeds them regularly. These supporting stars should be given credit to the ascendance these 2 legends.
Attitude
Considering the on-pitch attitude, Ronaldo is more aggressive than Messi. The number of red cards and yellow cards in the last 5 years shows that. Ronaldo has been yellow carded 28 times and red carded 3 times whereas Messi has been yellow carded 17 times and never red carded in the last 5 seasons. But when it comes to training ethics, Ronaldo has got more praise from managers than Messi has. Ronaldoai??i??s work ethic and hard work is second to none. The way he has worked back to win Balon dai??i??Or from the cusps of Messi (4 back-to-back wins) deserves heavenly praise and accolades. His hard work towards his objective is unmatchable.
While they both are different in their own ways of playing, they both are from another planet as quoted by Jose Mourinho. Playing in Barcelona and Real Madrid, the top two clubs in the world right now, is the right stage for their epic battle for supremacy.
Author:
Arunsankar Kumarakurubaran
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