On the football pitch, all players are equal, but some are more equal than others. Some whose innate magnetism exerts a centripetal force upon everything around them, making them the undisputed protagonist of every script, every scene. Some whose first instinct is to tease and tantalise the opponent, instead of taking up the more mundane commitments of collectiveness. These are the players who operate in the bubble of their own hubris while simultaneously transcending the sport. Players who, standing in 2021, are as comfortable soaking up the spotlight in a World Cup as they are on Instagram.
In the increasingly mechanised version of the world’s biggest game, these players have become all too few; cut down, in fact, to just the two — the irrepressible soloists known to us as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr.
CAN’T HELP SHOWING OFF
Ever since they had been touted as the next big thing in their early teens, Ronaldo and Neymar have grown accustomed to attention— not in the way that merely accepts the glare of the globe as an appendage to sporting success, but in the way that encourages that glare to glorify itself into an aspirational accessory, an inevitability of being called Ronaldo or Neymar.
This is not to say that either of these players is so consumed by style that they cannot slog it out. This is to say that when Neymar flicks a rabona over the head of an unsuspecting defender, or when Ronaldo competes with himself in a string of step-overs, or when both exult in front of the camera endorsing everything from shaving cream to luxury cars, the showboating that surfaces is organic, not a product of the artificial demands of some alter ego.
Ronaldo and Neymar show off not because they want to, but because they need to. It is a part of who they are and who they have always wanted to become, not as much denying, as defying, their childhood in Portugal and Brazil, respectively, when they had no pristine grass on which to glide, no fine leather boots with which to caress a football.
The solipsism that underlines these two gifted athletes is the solipsism that emerges from the urge to establish their supremacy over every second of their existence, to prove that they are champions of meritocracy as well as a brand by themselves — a compelling cocktail of desire and destiny that neither footballing romantics nor the planet’s glitziest companies can resist.
A TWO-MAN GALAXY
In the 1950s, there was Alfredo Di Stéfano, whose magnificence blended spectacle and statesmanship to represent the royalty of Real Madrid. Soon after, there was Pele, who carried the dreams of a nation of football fanatics on his shoulders, embodying the essence of Jogo bonito in the process. Then, of course, were Diego Maradona and George Best, whose lust for scandal almost matched their ethereal excellence. Even in the first half of this century, there were the likes of Ronaldo Nazario, David Beckham, and Ronaldinho, all individualists in their own way, all revelling in fortune and fame, standing for much more than the crest adorning their kits.
But football has changed since. Managers and club administrations no longer like to tolerate the superstar culture, journalists no longer like to document the haughtiness of greatness, and agents and corporates no longer like to rope in faces that are prone to self-indulgence, let alone self-celebration.
And yet, in a system designed to nip narcissism in the bud, where phenomenal exponents are calibrated to become commodities, largely stripped of idiosyncrasies, Ronaldo and Neymar remain outliers — two distinct prima donnas without emotional filters, not shy to exhibit their talents or tantrums.
Yes, modern football also has Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose vanity is without parallel, but Ibra, try as he might, does not have anywhere near the same commercial appeal. And yes, there is Lionel Messi, too, whose professional story is no less sensational, but who seems perennially oblivious to his personal — a reluctant celebrity.
There is, however, nothing reluctant about Ronaldo or Neymar. Whether rocketing through the ranks at Sporting Lisbon and Santos, or becoming household names at Manchester United and Barcelona, or having an entire club shaped in their image at Real Madrid, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s most enigmatic footballers inhabit a two-man galaxy, a space where normal laws of institution and industry do not apply to them, where an inflated love of the self becomes a virtue, not a vice.
IMMORTAL IDENTITIES
This February, Ronaldo turns 36, and Neymar 29; the first extending his peak, the latter in the middle of his. There is no question that despite their similarities in profile and personality, Ronaldo and Neymar have their differences. One is a bona fide all-time great, whereas the other, younger counterpart, is still flirting between being an outstanding repository of potential and a genuine candidate for the title of the world’s best.
At this rate, there is little doubt which of the two will hang up their boots with the more decorated footballing legacy. But what seems a far more interesting query is their space in the market of perception and reputation, where even the fluctuations of Wall Street seem child’s play.
How will the last years of their careers unfold and what awaits their next chapters— entrepreneurship, broadcasting, or perhaps even Hollywood?
As always with these two, it is wise to remain glued to our seats and take in the thrills as they come along — unforeseen, unfiltered, and in all probability, unrepeatable. For all the mesmeric abilities of up and coming sensations like Erling Haaland or proven performers like Kylian Mbappé, there is no footballer on the planet who can fill in for the all-consuming starpower presently offered by Ronaldo and Neymar.
Several years later, when someone from somewhere will execute a back-heel with more audacity than Neymar or commemorate a penalty with greater zest than Ronaldo, a new star will be born. But even then, the aura of Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr is unlikely to evaporate, for the most enduring, if not always the most endearing, trait of soloism is its persistence, its refusal to die — the immortality it lends to identity and its intoxicating manifestations upon the imagination.
Neymar
Sourced by the correspondentWHERE THE TITANS CONVERGE
The Telegraph digs deep to discover the intriguing parallels in the remarkable journeys of Ronaldo and Neymar...
FOOTBALL’S COSTLIEST: When Ronaldo moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid for an astronomical sum of 94 million euros in 2009, it was considered to be a freakish once-in-a-generation transfer fee. And yet, in 2017, when Neymar took over the tag of being football’s costliest player, the Brazilian managed to more than double that amount, taking it up to 222 million euros, inevitably sending more jaws dropping to the floor.
NATIONAL REDEMPTION: After years of frustration on the international scene with Portugal and Brazil, the summer of 2016 brought deliverance for both Ronaldo and Neymar. First, the Portuguese talisman led his country to their maiden European Championship crown in Paris, and then, the Brazilian healed some of the wounds of the 2014 World Cup debacle by dragging Brazil to the gold medal on home soil in the Rio Olympics.
KINGS OF THE COMEBACKS: Think of the most memorable UEFA Champions League turnarounds, and two performances will immediately spring to mind. In 2017, Neymar, then at Barcelona, went all guns blazing to take the Blaugrana over the finish line against PSG, single-handedly conjuring a miracle at the Camp Nou. Some two years later, Ronaldo, now at Juventus, went one step better, overturning a two-goal deficit against the miserly Atletico Madrid with a majestic hat-trick.
PUSKAS PERFECTION: Only two players who have finished on the podium of FIFA’s World Player of the Year rankings have ever gone on to win the FIFA Puskas Award- the gong for goal of the year. No prizes for guessing which two. In 2009, Ronaldo won the inaugural Puskas trophy for his scintillating piledriver against Porto, while in 2011 it was Neymar’s turn to shine courtesy a mazy dribble and strike that mesmerised Flamengo.
