Roger Federer couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. In September, after completing his final match of a 24-year professional career, the most naturally gifted player ever to pick up a tennis racket reached to his left, found the hand he was looking for and squeezed.
He knew he couldn’t look at Rafael Nadal because that would only make the situation more unbearable, but the 20-time Grand Slam champion needed to feel his dance partner’s touch. Retirement beckoned, but there was no one the Swiss wanted more to be by his side.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are yet to bury their hatchet, their mutual mistrust destined never to thaw. Now 35 and 37, they have dominated the beautiful game for two decades, winning a combined 66 trophies for their clubs, 12 Ballons d’Or and battering individual records to a pulp, but have struggled to match those dazzling highs for their countries. Discounting an Olympic gold here and a Nations League there, this unrivalled football duopoly has only the 2021 Copa America and Euro 2016 to show for over 350 international caps and counting.
This month, Messi and Ronaldo will each appear at their fifth World Cup, a feat matched only by Mexican pair Antonio Carbajal and Rafael Marquez, plus German Lothar Matthaus. Neither has lifted football’s great prize – their ascension above Pele and Diego Maradona on many best-ever lists is dependent on them doing so. Qatar is their last shot.
Ronaldo will be 41 in four years’ time – by then, even football’s King Canute must have accepted the obviousness of his shrinking powers. Messi, meanwhile, has already said 2022 will be his final World Cup. Their last dance is all they can think about…
“LIONEL WHO?”
Playing for their respective countries matters for Messi and Ronaldo. For better or worse, it takes them back to their childhood.
Born in Rosario, north of Buenos Aires, a six-year-old Messi joined hometown club Newell’s Old Boys’ youth teams in 1994. By the age of 10, the rumours surrounding a preternaturally gifted Newell’s midget swirled, but there was a problem. He was just 4ft 2in, impossibly small to become a footballer, and needed daily growth hormone injections which cost $1,800 every two months. Depending on who you believe, Newell’s either couldn’t, or wouldn’t pay.
In 2000, Barcelona scout and agent Josep Maria Minguella urged the club to pay for 13-year-old Lionel, father Jorge and brother Matias to spend a month in Catalonia on trial. Club official and former player Charly Rexach saw enough “in 10 minutes” to sign Messi and drew up a contract on the back of a napkin. In three years, Messi grew nearly a foot and put on close to four stone in weight.
Even in absentia, Messi’s love for home endured. His favourite actors are Argentine, his diet is the Argentinian favourite of meat, meat, meat – his go-to dish, beef covered in breadcrumbs – and wife Antonella is from Rosario. He repeatedly rebuffed Spain’s advances to switch allegiance, so he could play at the 2003 Under-17 World Cup for Argentina. The only issue? Coach Hugo Tocalli didn’t know who he was.
