The best footballers of our generation by Adelani Ogunrinade
To decide on the better footballer between Messi and Ronaldo is as difficult as distinguishing colours in darkness. This popular debate in the world of football is not likely to be resolved anytime soon.
The two players simply stand out like Ferrari’s plated in gold–they are undoubtedly the two best footballers of their generation.
This week, Lionel Messi equalled former Real Madrid striker, Raul’s record of 71 champion’s league goals. It took the son of the Bernabeau 144 Champion’s League games to score 71 goals but Barcelona’s four-time Ballon d’or winner only needed 90 games.
Christiano Ronaldo is one goal away from joining Messi and Raul.He has scored 70 goals in a 107 Champions League games. This year, the Portuguese maestro broke Esteban Echevarria’s 71-year old record for the best ever La Liga goal-scoring start. He also equalled La Liga’s long-standing hat trick record with his 22nd for Real Madrid.
Their glittering careers did not always shine this bright. As a child, Messi was diagnosed with Growth Hormone problems and coming from a poor background his family couldn’t pay the fees and neither could most of the local clubs around his surrounding Rosario home.
Like Messi, Ronaldo was raised in a poor family. The superstar describes his childhood as being one deprived from luxuries. Ronaldo’s time in England was marred by his mother’s 2007 struggle with breast cancer as well as his father’s death from an alcohol-related illness.
Today these young Immortals have demonstrated how dreams can come true regardless of the circumstances of your birth. They have proven that raw talent is nothing without a work ethic. As the old saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Cristiano Ronaldo is known for being obsessed with his training routine. In Sir Alex Ferguson words: “There’s no fluke about it. I see Ronaldo practising all the time in training.”
Messi too is known to work incredibly hard on his training routines. Theirry Henry once said about his former teammate: “I use to watch Messi in training each morning, and because of what he demonstrates he is the best player in the world, he stated during a press conference. It is a pleasure to watch him, and because of the way he plays he is an undisputed leader of the Barcelona team.”
The Inspirational stories of these two genius’s proves that there is nothing that will stand in the way of an athlete that has burning desire to break records, overcome personal challenges and engrave their name on the walls of history forever. The determination of Messi and Ronaldo to be the unsurpassed has made them the best footballers of our generation.