Of Messi, Ronaldo and GOAT claims
Lionel Messi. AFP PHOTO
What you need to know:
Pretenders to the throne. Dancing around the bitter truth that neither Messi nor Ronaldo is the greatest player of all time prompts comparisons with the proverbial ostrich hiding its head in sand.
If there is an acronym that is used loosely in global football, there is no doubt as to the power of GOAT or greatest of all time. The torrent of ecstatic reviews that have greeted their astonishing club feats have seen fans offer unstinting support to either Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo as the worthy GOAT.
Going into the 2018 World Cup, there was little proof that either player’s grip was beginning to weaken. Both were expected to be a force of nature in Russia, but they instead demonstrated crippling weaknesses. Besides each fluffing the odd penalty, the duo maintained its entirely joyless streak of not scoring in the knockout stage at the World Cup finals.
While such a track record should ideally serve as a chastening lesson, your columnist does not expect it to dull either Messi or Ronaldo’s appeal. It should not really.
What it should do, though, is trigger some kind of temperance amongst those recklessly optimistic to put either player on the GOAT pedestal. Dancing around the bitter truth that neither Messi nor Ronaldo is the greatest player of all time prompts comparisons with the proverbial ostrich hiding its head in sand.
As far as mortifying moments go, Messi and Ronaldo’s World Cup travails bother them with a far fiercer urgency than anything else. Contrary to those who wax lyrical about the Uefa Champions League, the World Cup is global football’s gold standard. You cannot lay claim to being a GOAT if you serially face strong headwinds at the tournament’s sharp end as have Messi and Ronaldo. But as noted before, I don’t expect either player’s loyalists to be a great deal more cautious in the tone they take. It, however, seems wholly possible, even inevitable, that both Messi and Ronaldo will be remembered for shining only in patches at the World Cup.
Of course, it is entirely possible that the two will return — a yard of pace slower — hoping to enjoy an Indian Summer at Qatar 2022. If they do enjoy an Indian Summer — and, make no mistake, this is a big ‘if’ — claims to being a GOAT will not come as a vulgar surprise.
