The year of the GOAT (GREATEST OF ALL TIME)

After seeing the score line (3-nil) of the last El-Classico where Messi and his cohorts were purported to have mesmerized the current Ballon d’Or holder and his team mates in the latter’s hunting ground and the media’s prediction of Messi’s rise to the top in the 2018 calendar with a bold caption: MESSI: THE YEAR OF THE GOAT. I was moved to give a word of advice to CR7 so that he can better manage his success and at least keep up with the man that has managed to stand ahead of him while he does the catching up. Apart from the beginning, when Cristiano took the centre stage in 2007 as the best player in the world, the wonderful Lionel Messi came and held on to the limelight for four years in a row, solidifying his meteoric rise in the minds of most football lovers. CR7 had to the catch up in two rows sandwiched by his nemesis in a battle for the best. However, he was able to equal his greatest rival in this passionate game. CR7 was only able to declare that he had always seen himself as the best after this feat of equaling Messi.

Now Messi is the one standing tall again for a sixth while CR7 is cooling off on his fifth going into a world cup year where the winner takes it all. The truth is that CR7 is nearing the end of a glistering career faster than Messi, thus it is a real possibility that he would see out his career with fewer Ballon d’Ors than Messi and no matter how hard he tries Messi will always outlast him in the game barring any tragedies of any sort.

Therefore, a quick realization of this important fact should help him slow down the competition arousing adrenalin and change his perspective and strategy. CR7 has been known to display a personality that the former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter termed “the commander”. In all honesty, Cristiano has a cockiness and egotistic aura landlocked within his personality, while this has served him well up till now, it is still an inferior approach to the one humility offers. If he wants to be held in regard that could see him immortalized in a peculiar way that is unique only to him then a change in approach would serve him well. He may yet even be able to run the gauntlet one more time before the younger generation comes and take the podium and make it their own once and for all.

What CR7 needs to do does not involve any improvement on the pitch but what he does outside it that is in the dressing room and with his team mates. He must learn to accommodate other stars in the team. Take for instance, since Gareth Bale came into the team breaking the transfer record formerly held by the great Cristiano Ronaldo, in the eyes of the cameras he has not bonded well with Bale. I have never seen him celebrate wildly with Bale in a match when the latter is contributing to the team’s success and holding the limelight. He has to see other good players as his team mates rather than his rivals. Let him be a tower of confidence rather than an intimidating figure to be feared. Let him, more often than not, be a provider and be happy in a supporting role too. Let him not cut a lonely figure when his team mates are making the decisive moves. Let him strive to form emotional bonds with his fellow forward team mates and he would be surprised to see how many goals they would be shipping into the opponents’ nets on a regular basis. Let him be glad that the club are bringing in the best and let his approval be genuine, he would definitely see how he shines from another position. If the media see this change, he would win their admiration and of course write favorably about the change. And if his team wins a major competition, he already has an image power that would make him the first pick in the team for the best spot in the game, then he can be able to steal the limelight becoming the GOAT he always wanted to be. I think he really needs to learn how to bleat if he truly wants to be the GOAT.