A Strange Twist In Rivalry

As poster boys of United States and Saudi Arabia, Messi and Ronaldo have decided to give legitimacy to football as a cultural institution

- Ravi Raj

Icelanders or Basque, Cambodian or Caribbean: humans, despite carrying vagaries of differences, are 99.9 per cent genetically identical to one another. Logically, this applies to footballers, too, and their decision-making, even if they are as varied in their style and substance as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Their illustrious and entwined careers have been marked by differences, but there's a common thread that binds their epilogue. Done with the travails of European football, both of them have decided to spend their remaining playing days in places you wouldn't commonly associate with football: Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Perhaps it's the burn-out effect that compelled them to take a step back and cruise to retirement, instead of sprinting and huffing and puffing and subjecting themselves to the endless scrutiny that comes with playing in an elite league. Or perhaps the high sums of money made it too irresistible. In previous eras, legends would join their boyhood club to end their career, as a mark of respect to the place that forged them. Much to the dismay of romantics, there won't be the schmaltzy back-where-it-all-began columns this time simply because the stakes are much higher.