Nothing compares to sport’s contrasts, and few are as stark as the exits of two defining icons of the modern football era. As one continues to negotiate his grand departure from the international stage in a swirl of petulant rancour, bitterness and posturing, the other’s farewell was – up to a point – a study in dignified grace. Ignoring the somewhat jarring moment when an otherwise quite touching drone display lit up the night sky over Buenos Aires with an advert for an insurance company, Lionel Messi’s final match for Argentina was the perfect curtain call.
A capacity crowd witnessed pre-match pyro, presentations and an evocative “Gracias No 10” shirt pitch banner before Argentina’s friendly against Benin, a team who could scarcely have been more obliging visitors. Argentina ran out comfortable winners, even if Benin’s goalkeeper, Marcel Dandjinou, failed to read the room and appeared to be playing under the delusion that 80,000 locals had packed the stadium to watch him deny Messi a valedictory goal. When it was eventually scored from the penalty spot, the strike was greeted by an explosion of emotion, noise and tears.
Whether the louder weeping came from the stands or the Sancor Seguros PR department remains unclear. Where Messi’s long goodbye has been handled with the reverence of a state funeral, Cristiano Ronaldo’s international endgame increasingly resembles a toddler having a playground meltdown because mum brought the wrong sippy-cup. Having previously flounced out of the Portugal camp promising to tell his people “the truth”, Ronaldo portrayed himself as some political dissident leaking important state secrets rather than a preening 41-year-old diva who didn’t get a promised run-out off the bench.
In an extremely contradictory 1,740-word manifesto published on a Social Media Disgrace, he detailed the tragic breach of a “30-minute minute-management strategy” with the Portugal head coach, Jorge Jesus, as if it were a direct contravention of the Geneva Convention. Without question, the highlight of his literary outburst was a ludicrously self-aggrandising eight-point statement Jesus had apparently agreed to make on the player’s behalf. Thankfully, the 72-year-old thought better of blowing smoke up the ageing superstar’s nether regions and promptly threw his script in the bin.
I have nothing more to say. Thank you.” And that almost certainly sums up the difference between both footballers. For over 20 years we have argued about who was better, but recent events simply reflect who they have always been.
Messi’s farewell was an emotional, meticulously planned event that was only slightly spoilt by the obligatory corporate intrusion. Ronaldo’s continues to be a parable starring a martyr effectively calling for his own stoning while handing out the rocks. In the end, last orders are inevitably called for every sporting icon.
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