New Delhi: The jersey reveal, the golden lettering, the drones in the sky, the tears in the crowd, the emotions on social media and everyone in the stadium at Buenos Aires, including Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni, asking Lionel Messi to stay on.
In his final match, a farewell ode, Messi scored a goal and created two others as Argentina won 3-0 against Benin. Eight goals and four assists are a stunning return for a 39-year-old seemingly ending his career. Because there’s somebody else that’s coming up, “When we’re done it’s kind of like we’re just moved along or brushed aside.
But Ronaldo looks lost – still searching for his old self when he and the team need something different.
“I don’t think there’s been much help for when an athlete retires,” he said in 2018. “The biggest thing I felt was a loss of identity and purpose,” said Kelly Holmes, the British double Olympic champion who retired in 2005. Part of it perhaps comes down to what they are producing on the field. It was much the same during the World Cup too – between his long walks on the field were spurts of unstoppable brilliance. Ronaldo, despite his ‘I’m back’ statement during the World Cup, hasn’t been anywhere close to his best for a while. He scored three goals (two against Uzbekistan and one penalty against Croatia) at the World Cup, but the movement and the touch… it all seems to be in a freefall. It is surprising perhaps that Ronaldo is blind to it all. He may still come back but one hopes he does not for he’s better than this. And perhaps his legacy deserves better than this. Greatness understands greatness. The things that set them apart, the things that make them special. In Messi’s play, we still see that. He isn’t as quick or strong as he once was but he picks his moments. Then, in your 30s or 40s, you have to walk away and start fresh at life, life that isn’t all about training runs, the gym and the game. Life that doesn’t fall into a system. “Suddenly the structure, the people you call on, it all goes. But with no idea of what you want to do and who you want to be and that’s a really lonely place and I got quite depressed around that time.”
Across the Atlantic, during a Nations League match against Norway, Portugal manager Jorge Jesus left their legend Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old captain, as an unused substitute. No one asking him to stay. No tears being shed. Not yet.
Ronaldo, upset by the decision, walked out of the Portugal national team and left Copenhagen before the game where they beat Denmark.
