Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the game for more than a decade. The two have marshaled their fans into a more than difficult debate that might never end soon of who is the greatest of all time [GOAT] but simple and fair these two footballers have been the best in their generation.
The two have broken numerous records for club and country and they pride of massive recognition in the biggest football stage collectively between the two, they have taken home 11 Ballon d’Or. 17 league titles, a total of nine Champions League, and over 1500 goals.
Even now, at 34 and 36 respectively, Messi and Ronaldo remain world-class players.
Last season, Messi won the Pichichi Trophy as La Liga’s top scorer for the fifth year in a row. He then won the Copa America Golden Boot and Best Player Award. He will almost certainly lift a seventh Ballon d’Or next month.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at a past Ballon d’Or event; Photo Credit – FC Barcelona Noticias
Meanwhile, Ronaldo hit 29 goals to take the Capocannoniere crown in Serie A before claiming the Euro 2020 Golden Boot, despite being knocked out in the last 16.
These two football greats are shining at a game level that none or very few players are capable of.
But the bigger question we are trying to answer in this article is, Can the two football greats; Lionel Messi and Ronaldo still manage to win major team honors in what is becoming overwhelmingly a team sport in recent years?
Defensive aspect
In today’s game, all the eleven players in the field are supposed to take part to secure a win for their club or country either offensively or defensively.
The modern game does not replicate the then days where number 10 enjoyed the pleasures of a free role, or a holding midfielder or sweeper just defending the space behind their line, this is a new era of football that teamwork wins games and titles, those days have gone and footballers must brace themselves for this game.
Cristiano Ronaldo; Photo Credit – MARCA
The modern game does not encourage laxity, goalkeepers and defenders are expected to pass and dribble past their opponents and pile pressure on the opposition and so must attackers contribute to defending and closing down from the front.
Not one player in the team can be carried any longer, no matter how good they are.
Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph was the perfect example of what is possible when every player is singing from the same hymn sheet.
The team moved as one unit both offensively, defensively, and positionally, with every player understanding their tactical role and working hard to press and win the ball back regardless of where it was.
This was particularly evident from goal kicks as Italy often stopped their opponents from escaping their own penalty area and trapped them.
This elite level of pressing and positional play which Italy demonstrated at the Euros is impossible if even one player doesn’t follow the script.
Messi and Ronaldo in this case have refused to join in and press with their teams, nor contribute defensively in terms of tracking back and winning the ball. If Messi or Ronaldo were playing for Italy, their opponents would have escaped the press at goal kicks.
Additionally, teams target areas on the pitch where an opponent is not picking up the slack.
For example, when Ronaldo was not tracking back last season in his left-wing position of Juventus’ 4-3-3, the other team would double up on the left-back, creating an overload.
This then caused Juve’s left central midfielder to move over to help out, which then left them a man light in the centre. It was a domino effect all stemming from Ronaldo.
The same signs have been on display already at Man Utd this season, with Ronaldo playing as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1.
Daily Mail reported that Ronaldo has little offered pressure on opponents than any other forward in the English Premier League this season. it also adds that Ronaldo has covered less ground than a goalkeeper in the Champions League this term which is very minimal and shocking facts.
With much pressure and blames aimed at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who has not once been questioned about his style of play that has resulted to Man United shocking defeats it is also right to point that Ronaldo lack of running and pressing is contributing largely to their lack of teamwork that ultimately wins games and depending on individual moments which has been case in most instances at Manchester club.
The positional play has become exceptionally complex now. Another real-life example, again in Euro 2020, was in how Spain managed to neutralize Italy during their semi-final at Wembley (and then again in the UEFA Nations League semi-final last week).
Luis Enrique stopped Italy from escaping from goal kicks by man-marking the Azzurri’s ball-carriers, Jorginho and Marco Verrati via Dani Olmo and Koke.
This caused all kinds of problems for Italy tactically in this game but was only possible through incredible levels of discipline and fitness. In the end, Italy won on penalties, but it was Spain who in truth won the tactical battle.
Battle for Champions League title
The two players Lionel Messi and Ronaldo former clubs Barcelona and Juventus have struggled to win games in the Champions League lately.
Juve won just one knockout game in Ronaldo’s three seasons at the club and was eliminated by the weakest remaining team in the competition for the last two years of those.
As for Barca, they were beaten 5-2 by PSG in the last-16 earlier this year and 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals last year. Meanwhile, the two seasons before that they suffered historic collapses to Liverpool and Roma, respectively.
The Champions League winners in these last few seasons have been ultra-disciplined, super-fit, and well-drilled outfits in Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea who press high up the pitch, run all day, and carry no passengers like Messi and Ronaldo.
Ronald and Messi remains world-class players of their generation; Photo Credit- Marca
It can be argued, of course, that neither Barcelona nor Juventus were strong enough in any of these seasons to win the Champions League.
Both clubs have been run appallingly when it comes to the transfer market in recent seasons, as demonstrated by the fact that they found themselves huge debts with Barcelona still presently in financial turmoil that even they failed to keep their all-time best player in the summer, Juventus too had to release Ronaldo.
Barca has since received a new bank loan, while Juve welcomed a cash injection from their parent company.
Messi’s fans would also point out that he helped Argentina to a Copa America triumph this summer. However, one could argue that winning the Copa in its current guise is not the achievement it once was.
Four of the five teams in each group qualified for the quarter-finals before Argentina beat Ecuador and then Colombia on penalties to reach the final against Brazil.
Those who watched the tournament wouldn’t disagree that the standard of South American international football right now is as low as it has been in a long time.
European football is much higher, as shown by all four semi-finalists at the last World Cup being from UEFA.
The elite football is elsewhere and the best of the best is reserved for the Champions League knockout stages.
Messi’s chances of winning the Champions League have increased now he is at a super-team like PSG. But it remains to be seen if even a team boasting world-class stars like Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Marco Verratti can carry a player who does no running.
As for Man Utd, very few would tip them to win the Champions League.
Why Juventus let Ronaldo out their camp?
Juventus certainly realized that Ronaldo was a tactical issue.
Maurizio Sarri often complained that his type of football, which relies on a high press, was incompatible with Ronaldo (and to the same extent Paulo Dybala.
Returning coach Max Allegri harbored the same concerns, which is a reason why Juventus tried to find a buyer for Ronaldo earlier this summer, before his dramatic departure at the end of the window.
Ronaldo and Messi will both go down as all-time legends, but it seems as this brave new world of football doesn’t welcome their type of player any longer.
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