THE FINAL SHOWDOWN
World Cup will be last chance for the Big Two to face off on game’s biggest stage and help provide the verdict to football’s biggest debate: Just who is better?
LISANDRO MARTINEZ believes Lionel Messi still has the hunger to fill a World Cup-shaped gap in his trophy cabinet – and end football’s greatest debate. The Old Trafford defender says that it’s Messi’s desire rather than his incredible skill that makes him such an outstanding performer. “People see the Messi that scores the great goals, they see that he is a magician on the ball,” Argentina international Martinez (below) said. “But, if you have played with him, you will have seen how much he still has the desire to win.
“He has won nearly everything but still he is hungry in every training session and every game. It is hard to explain but he is a natural winner and that winning mentality is infectious for the rest of the team. He is our leader and we are ready to go into battle.“
The debate over who is the superior player – Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo – has raged for years. Some say neither can be classed as the GOAT until a World Cup has been pocketed.
Liverpool and Scotland legend Graeme Souness has a precise definition of “greatness” when it comes to teams.
To be considered great you have to win the Champions League (or European Cup) at least twice, he argues.
International opportunities are less frequent but it is probably fair to say that for Messi or Ronaldo to claim to be the world’s greatest player, they have to have won the World Cup at least once.
Otherwise let’s leave the debate to the real champions – like triple World Cup winner Pele or Diego Maradona, who won it virtually single-handedly in 1986, with honourable mentions to Brazilian Ronaldo and French legend Zinedine Zidane.
Granted, Ronaldo drove Portugal to Euro 2016 glory but, since winking at Wayne Rooney in that infamous 2006 quarter-final, he has not won so much as a knockout game at the planet’s biggest jamboree. Messi has gone much closer, captaining an Argentina side to 113 minutes of World Cup final stalemate against Germany in 2014 until Mario Goetze broke South American hearts with the only goal of the game.
Ronaldo, as he does on a regular basis at Manchester United, will quickly point to deficiencies around him. Portugal have never had a team good enough to win the World Cup, even with him playing in it, he would say.
But Maradona showed in 1986 what can be done with one player of monstrous talent, even when the supporting cast is sub-standard.
With Ronaldo 37 and Messi 35, this will surely be the last crack at a World Cup for both men.
Argentina seem to have a clear run at Group C, with Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Poland lined up against them.
Portugal have a tougher prospect, with Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea, complete with Heung-Min Son in a mask, making even reaching the knockout stage by no means certain.
For those on either side of the fence, perhaps the debate would be decided once and for all only by a direct head-to-head.
The earliest that could be is the semi-finals, which would leave a Greatest Of All Time coronation very much on the cards.