“The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled…” says John Cutter (Michael Caine) in Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece ‘The Prestige’. This dialogue fits perfectly on fans of the ‘Beautiful Game’ and the two magicians who have been bewitching the eyes of these fans for a decade and a half with their craftsmanship.
Football sees many tricks and performances of reckoning every year. But rarely has an era ever seen two greats perform outstandingly, in tandem, week after week, as ours has seen. Thanks to the wizardry and genius of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Those who have seen them play consider themselves lucky. On Thursday these two men, rivals, opponents, icons, powerhouses, sat next to each other yet again as UEFA announced its awardees for the previous season. Since the inception of the UEFA Paleyr of the Year Award in 2011, the duo have bagged the honour on 5 out of the 8 occasions. The duo received the award’s predecessor, UEFA Club Footballer of the year honour once each too. On Thursday though they lost out to Liverpool’s guard-in-chief Virgil Van Dijk.
During a candid conversation at the event Ronaldo opened up about his equation with Messi and what their rivalry has given to football and its fans all over the world.
“We share the stage for 15 years, me and him. I don’t know if that’s ever happened in football; the same two guys on the same stage all the time. It’s not easy, as you know. And, of course, we have a good relationship. We’ve not had a dinner together yet, but I hope in the future [we will],” Ronaldo said.
Talking about his move away from Spain to Italy, Ronaldo said that he misses playing in Spain and the rivalry with Messi.
“Of course, I miss playing in Spain. We’ve had that battle for the last 15 years, which is good – he pushed me and I pushed him as well. So, it’s good to be part of the history of football. I’m there and, of course, he is there as well,” Ronaldo said, which clearly stated the mutual respect the duo share for each other.
WhatsApp us