Lionel Messi
OpenLife News reports that for football icons like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the hardest goodbye is not just leaving the pitch, but letting go of who they have been — a decision far more complex than retirement itself, tangled in ego, identity, and a lifetime consumed by the game.
Below is an overview of heroic goodbye context by Ben Church of the CNN
Saying goodbye is never easy.
Within a sporting context, the hardest farewells often come when it’s time for players to retire, but such decisions are often more complex than you’d imagine – fraught with ego and identity dilemmas for athletes who have been consumed by their sport for so long.
But regardless of how hard it is to let go, there tends to be a right and a wrong way of going about it.
Take Lionel Messi for example. Following defeat in this summer’s World Cup final, the Argentine captain penned a handwritten letter explaining his decision to step down from the national team.
In it, the 39-year-old said the decision hurt his “soul” but thanked teammates, coaches and family for joining him on the ride. Part of him stepping aside was to let a new generation come through behind him and he promised to support the team with the rest of Argentina from now on.
Then, last night, Messi said goodbye for real after being convinced to play one more game for La Albiceleste. Thousands of his followers flocked to Buenos Aires to celebrate a player who has become nothing short of a deity in the country and a goal and two assists in a 3-0 win against Benin seemed a fitting way to end a stellar 20-year international career.
Then, we have Cristiano Ronaldo.
Night and day
On the same day Messi went out in a blaze of glory, the Portuguese captain posted a rather bizarre statement on social media which felt as strange as it did sad.
In it, the veteran forward explained his recent decision to walk away from Portugal’s UEFA Nations League training camp, feeling aggrieved that new head coach Jorge Jesus had broken alleged assurances regarding playing time and not given subsequent public apologies for reneging on said assurances.
As a result, the current captain stormed away in a strop that seemed to throw his future with the national team into question. But, in that public post on Tuesday, Ronaldo promised to come back, urging the Portuguese FA to punish him for his actions.
Yet his whole statement felt like a “sorry, not sorry” that you’d expect more from a jilted teenager than you would from one of the greatest players in the history of the Beautiful Game, and the worst thing about it is I’m not sure many people really care at this point – certainly fewer than Ronaldo imagines.
Yes, his Instagram post with his statement earned over 15.5 million likes, but that’s far from his top post even in the last few months.
A modern-day Greek tragedy
Ever since he struggled through the 2022 World Cup, it was clear Ronaldo could no longer have a telling impact on the international stage. But his influence over what happens with the team is so big that the striker has continued to play and weigh down what could have been a golden generation for the country.
This summer’s World Cup simply solidified what most people already thought: that Portugal was better off without Ronaldo. But try telling the five-time Ballon d’Or winner that…
Retiring from the national team seemed to be an option after that World Cup disappointment, but Ronaldo said he was urged to continue by the Portuguese soccer federation president – something which now looks incredibly ill-advised.
Now, the aging superstar finds himself in an awkward situation where no one wants to be – overstaying his welcome like that uncle at Thanksgiving or Christmas who can’t read the room.
What’s even worse is that his prolonged farewell has started chipping away at his undeniable legacy. Don’t forget that his incredible talent inspired his nation to victory at the European Championships in 2016, a moment that his country will never forget.
Ironically, it’s the irrefutable ego that made Ronaldo so good that is now leading to his downfall – a Greek tragedy Sophocles or Euripides would have been proud to write.
Perhaps he’s stuck around so long because his old rival Messi has enjoyed so much success with Argentina in recent years, and he’s desperate to show the world one last time that he should be held in as lofty a pantheon as the Inter Miami forward.
But comparing the two men today makes Ronaldo look worse than he may realize. It’s now time for him to say goodbye to the national team. Doing so quickly might still enable him to have a farewell like Messi in Buenos Aires.
Most people seem to know it – except, it seems, Ronaldo himself.
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