"Stories shape reality"
Jean-Luc Godard, French cinemasta
There were once two dominant figures in the world of soccer, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. For most of the 21st century the story of their rivalry generated billions of conversations. Now that Messi has won the World Cup, history has come to an end.
Reminds me of the Snow White story.
For those who have forgotten, the story begins with the birth of a girl named Snow White whose mother, a young queen, dies shortly after giving birth. The king, Snow White's father, remarries. His wife – the new queen, the girl's stepmother – believes she is the most beautiful woman in the world. She possesses a magic mirror that confirms this for her.
Every day the stepmother – also known as the Evil Queen – asks the mirror: “Mirror, magic mirror, tell me something. Which woman in this kingdom is the most beautiful?" And the magic mirror answers: "You, Majesty, are the most beautiful woman in this kingdom and in all the others."
When Snow White turns seven, the mirror changes the script. "My Queen, you are very beautiful, it is true, but your young stepdaughter, Princess Snow White, is now a thousand times more beautiful than you."
(You see where I'm going, right? Narciso Cristiano was the undisputed number one until, one day, the Argentine suitor burst onto the stage...)
Continuing with the tale, the Evil Queen becomes enraged and initiates a series of ingenious moves to assassinate Snow White. She believes more than once that she has achieved it, but her mirror always tells her the bad news that the young princess is still the most beautiful, that is, that she is still alive. The queen's plans are frustrated thanks to some friends with whom Snow White finds refuge, the seven dwarfs. Finally, Snow White marries a beautiful prince. They kill the stepmother and live happily ever after.
Already. I'm sorry. I understand that a thriller as terrifying as this one does not go with the Christmas spirit, but my educational vocation forces me to highlight the similarity with the story, also invented, of Cristiano and Messi. The universal appeal of the Snow White tale has served as the template for a fictional debate that has consumed media attention and entertained us all as children.
Cristiano has done his part by playing the role of “best” with the same furious certainty as Snow White's stepmother. Sports journalists have fed the chimera salesperson by awarding Cristiano five Ballon d'Ors when the truth, as you well know, is that Messi should have received them all – not just his seven – since around 2009.
It is not difficult to imagine the number of times during this period that Cristiano has received the answer he did not want in the mirror of his television, forced in front of the screen to see goals, passes, dribbles and other works of art of Messi that he had to knowing, deep down, that they were beyond their capabilities. Deep down, because Cristiano's capacity for self-deception has been on a par with that of Snow White's stepmother.
But history no longer gives for more. Messi's triumph and his ten dwarfs in the World Cup put an end to the alleged debate. Cristiano was not even a starter in the Portuguese team, eliminated in the quarterfinals by Morocco. His tragedy had been not knowing himself. His crying when he left the field revealed that he no longer had any choice but to face reality. Cristiano knows that he will no longer figure in the conversation about who has been the best player of all time.
But, being Christmas, let's look for a less unhappy ending for Cristiano than that of the Evil Queen. It is said, since no major club wants to sign him, that he is going to end his days playing in the Saudi league, in exchange for around 200 million euros. Better, much better, a reconciliation between Cristiano's stepmother and Snow White Messi.
Let the story end with a marriage. That they end up playing together. Let the beautiful prince Beckham come to the rescue and sign them both for his early retirement club, Inter Miami. Beckham, salary ambassador of the World Cup in Qatar, will be able to pay them whatever they want, more than enough to be happy, or at least to eat partridges, until the end of their days.
