Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aviero (CR7), a Madeira-born 38-year-old football legend, has been shocking us for years with his amazing physicality and superhuman powers such as jumping 3 meters and scoring goals near half-lines with a mind-blowing power. Whereas the 35-year-old Rosario-born maestro Lionel Andres Messi Cuccitini (LM10) is simply one of the best footballers who has ever gone onto the field. His ball expertise and dribbling are out of this world, and he has proven that he is one of the finest by winning the World Cup in 2022 after a breath-taking finals with France. They each have the most goals, assists, trophies, and Ballon D’ors.
Every minute, football fans all over the world watch them both play their wonderful games. These two are also known for having the most intense and competitive rivalry in sports history. Even though they play for us, they have been through a lot. For example, Ronaldo suffered two career-ending injuries (one was a heart ailment that nearly killed him when he was 15 and had a very poor success rate). And the other was a knee injury in 2014, while he was playing for Real Madrid, which was the main reason he couldn’t dribble as much as he did in 2008. And Messi had a growth hormone deficit, for which he paid dearly. You may ask, how are they playing better than anyone at this age. Yes! It was only due of their dedication and hard work in the sport.
People are ever so ready to criticise someone rather than see the sacrifices, the way they handled their passionate followers or the efforts put in by these sportspersons. Sadly, they will not be playing football for atleast a decade. But as football fans we don’t have to favour one over the other by referring to Benchnaldo solely because he was benched the previous year or referring to Pessi solely because he scored several of his goals in the World Cup as penalties. We must respect them as players and can disagree on one being superior as per our personal choices but also make an effort to avoid insulting them. As individuals and football lovers let us ensure that we play a significant role in their careers by supporting their future achievements and their exquisite football era ends with fond memories.
