Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted by FIFA as the best player in the world, being awarded the Ballon d’Or. This in itself is already a major story, but if we add the fact second place went to Lionel Messi, we face a greater event.
I do not mean Ronaldo does not deserve the golden ball, an award he won in 2008, but the 2013 trophy has a bitter taste for Ronaldo.
His main competitor, his ‘nemesis’ had an uneven year, where injuries and fatigue were the constant – and Ronaldo knows it.
This, far from being an acknowledgment for the Portuguese player, but is a reminder of how crucial it was the figure of Messi for world football.
Cristiano Ronaldo belongs to a rare class of players – the type of player which rival fans love to hate.
Maybe this is a result of his body, being a natural athlete, the perfection of his movements or just because he is handsome and rubs shoulders with Paris Hilton.
The Ronaldo all rival fans hate is the one off the pitch.
It is true the Portuguese player has contributed in building that image, full of selfishness and defiance.
With his slicked-back hair, a devilish right leg and a sharp tongue, ‘CR7’ has earned the enmity of more than one person in the world of football.
But it is also true these qualities we love to hate make him an indispensable character in world football.
Messi, on the other hand, is the antithesis of everything Ronaldo is.
He is not good looking, does not make bombastic statements, he has not been surrounded by Hollywood stars and even seems like he would enjoy the anonymity of a regular job.
The merit of the Argentine player is simply to be the best player in the last 30 years. Neither more nor less.
Maybe if Messi had dedicated his life to something else, such as advocacy or medicine, everyone would love Ronaldo and perhaps Ronaldo himself would be a different person.
In 2013, CR7 was the best player in the world insofar as Messi allowed him to be. Before the award, Ronaldo has lived for four years the ‘nightmare’ of being bested by the Argentine.
If life is measured in moments, Ronaldo would choose that precise second where Pele announced the winner of the Ballon d’Or. When he heard his name, CR7 felt he had convinced everyone he was the best.
That is the second that matters.
But as the crowd stood to applaud the winner, the Portuguese fixed his gaze on a point. There, in a suit of questionable taste, was his ‘nemesis’.
And in that instant Ronaldo, in an act of humility, thought, “this is not real”.
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