The lesson Cristiano Ronaldo can still learn from Lionel Messi’s heroic goodbye

Maxi Franzoi/AGIF/AP

Saying goodbye is never easy.

Within a sporting context, the hardest farewells often come when it’s time for players to retire, but such decisions are often more complex than you’d imagine – fraught with ego and identity dilemmas for athletes who have been consumed by their sport for so long.

But regardless of how hard it is to let go, there tends to be a right and a wrong way of going about it.

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Take Lionel Messi for example. Following defeat in this summer’s World Cup final , the Argentine captain penned a handwritten letter explaining his decision to step down from the national team.

In it, the 39-year-old said the decision hurt his “soul” but thanked teammates, coaches and family for joining him on the ride. Part of him stepping aside was to let a new generation come through behind him and he promised to support the team with the rest of Argentina from now on.

Then, last night, Messi said goodbye for real after being convinced to play one more game for La Albiceleste. Thousands of his followers flocked to Buenos Aires to celebrate a player who has become nothing short of a deity in the country and a goal and two assists in a 3-0 win against Benin seemed a fitting way to end a stellar 20-year international career.

Tears were flowing from the moment he stepped out for the warmups to the moment he addressed the crowd with a near 10-minute speech at the end.

Nothing is perfect, but Messi trudging off the pitch in the famous sky blue and white stripes while surrounded by an adoring stadium crowd seemed as good as it could get. I think we can all agree that this is a good example of how to say goodbye.

Then, we have Cristiano Ronaldo .

Ryan Pierse/FIFA via Getty Images

On the same day Messi went out in a blaze of glory, the Portuguese captain posted a rather bizarre statement on social media which felt as strange as it did sad.

In it, the veteran forward explained his recent decision to walk away from Portugal’s UEFA Nations League training camp, feeling aggrieved that new head coach Jorge Jesus had broken alleged assurances regarding playing time and not giving subsequent public apologies for reneging on said assurances.

Basically, long story short, it kind of all boils down to Ronaldo not playing 30 minutes at the end of Portugal’s win against Norway on October 4 – shock, horror.

Richard Callis/Sports Press Photo/Sipa/AP

As a result, the current captain stormed away in a strop that seemed to throw his future with the national team into question. But, in that public post on Tuesday, Ronaldo promised to come back, urging the Portuguese FA to punish him for his actions.

Yet his whole statement felt like a “ sorry, not sorry ” that you’d expect more from a jilted teenager than you would from one of the greatest players in the history of the Beautiful Game , and the worst thing about it is I’m not sure many people really care at this point – certainly fewer than Ronaldo imagines. Yes, his Instagram post with his statement earned over 15.5 million likes, but that’s far from his top post even in the last few months.

Grzegorz Wajda/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Ever since he struggled through the 2022 World Cup, it was clear Ronaldo could no longer have a telling impact on the international stage. But his influence over what happens with the team is so big that the striker has continued to play and weigh down what could have been a golden generation for the country.

This summer’s World Cup simply solidified what most people already thought: that Portugal was better off without Ronaldo. But try telling the five-time Ballon d’Or winner that…

Instead, Ronaldo continued to play in North America, shouting “I’m back” into the camera lens after scoring two goals against tournament debutant Uzbekistan in what could be the cringiest moment of the tournament.

Retiring from the national team seemed to be an option after that World Cup disappointment, but Ronaldo said he was urged to continue by the Portuguese soccer federation president – something which now looks incredibly ill-advised.

Now, the aging superstar finds himself in an awkward situation where no one wants to be – overstaying his welcome like that uncle at Thanksgiving or Christmas who can’t read the room.

What’s even worse is that his prolonged farewell has started chipping away at his undeniable legacy. Don’t forget that his incredible talent inspired his nation to victory at the European Championships in 2016, a moment that his country will never forget.

But that was over 10 years ago, and his country is now better off without him – the eye tests of the team’s play on the pitch and the results prove as much.

Ironically, it’s the irrefutable ego that made Ronaldo so good that is now leading to his downfall – a Greek tragedy Sophocles or Euripides would have been proud to write. Perhaps he’s stuck around so long because his old rival Messi has enjoyed so much success with Argentina in recent years, and he’s desperate to show the world one last time that he should be held in as lofty a pantheon as the Inter Miami forward.

But comparing the two men today makes Ronaldo look worse than he may realize. It’s now time for him to say goodbye to the national team. Doing so quickly might still enable him to have a farewell like Messi in Buenos Aires.

Most people seem to know it – except, it seems, Ronaldo himself.

Maxi Franzoi/AGIF/AP

离别从来都不容易。

在体育界，最艰难的告别往往发生在运动员退役的时候，但这样的决定往往比你想象的要复杂得多——对于长期沉浸于体育运动的运动员来说，这其中充满了自尊和身份认同的困境。

但是，无论放手有多么困难，处理放手的方式往往有对错之分。

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以莱昂内尔·梅西为例。在今年夏天世界杯决赛失利后，这位阿根廷队长写了一封亲笔信，解释了他退出国家队的决定。

这位39岁的球员在声明中表示，这个决定令他“心痛”，但他感谢队友、教练和家人一路陪伴他走过这段旅程。他选择退役的部分原因是为了让新一代球员在他身后成长，并承诺今后将与阿根廷全国人民一起支持球队。

昨晚，梅西在被说服再为阿根廷国家队出战一场后，正式告别了他的国家队生涯。成千上万的球迷涌入布宜诺斯艾利斯，庆祝这位在阿根廷堪称偶像的球员的告别。在3-0战胜贝宁的比赛中，梅西贡献一球两助攻，这似乎也为他辉煌的20年国际赛场生涯画上了圆满的句号。

从他开始热身的那一刻起，直到最后他向观众发表了近 10 分钟的演讲，他都泪流满面。

世事无完美，但梅西身穿标志性的天蓝色和白色条纹球衣，在球迷的簇拥下缓缓走下球场，这似乎已经是最好的告别方式了。我想我们都能认同，这才是告别的正确打开方式。

然后，我们还有克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多。

Ryan Pierse/FIFA via Getty Images

就在梅西光荣退役的同一天，这位葡萄牙队长在社交媒体上发布了一条相当奇怪的声明，这让人既感到奇怪又感到悲伤。

在信中，这位经验丰富的前锋解释了他最近决定离开葡萄牙国家联赛训练营的原因，他感到不满的是，新任主教练豪尔赫·热苏斯违背了关于上场时间的承诺，并且没有就此违背承诺公开道歉。

简而言之，事情的起因是罗纳尔多在 10 月 4 日葡萄牙战胜挪威的比赛最后 30 分钟没有上场——这令人震惊，简直是晴天霹雳。

Richard Callis/体育新闻图片/Sipa/美联社

结果，这位现任队长愤然离场，他的国家队生涯似乎也因此蒙上了一层阴影。但在周二发布的公开声明中，C罗承诺会回归，并敦促葡萄牙足协对他的行为进行处罚。

然而，他的整份声明听起来就像是“抱歉，但并不抱歉”，这种态度更像是被抛弃的青少年才会说的，而不是足球史上最伟大球员之一会说的。更糟糕的是，我不确定现在有多少人真正关心这件事——肯定比C罗想象的要少得多。没错，他在Instagram上发布的声明获得了超过1550万个赞，但这远不是他近几个月来最受欢迎的帖子。

Grzegorz Wajda/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

自从他在2022年世界杯上表现挣扎后，很明显C罗已经无法在国际赛场上发挥决定性作用。但他对球队的影响力如此之大，以至于这位前锋不得不继续上场比赛，拖累了原本可能成为国家队黄金一代的球队。

今年夏天的世界杯只是印证了大多数人的想法：葡萄牙没有C罗反而更好。但你试试跟这位五届金球奖得主说说看……

相反，罗纳尔多继续在北美比赛，在对阵首次参赛的乌兹别克斯坦的比赛中攻入两球后，对着镜头大喊“我回来了”，这可能是本届赛事中最尴尬的时刻。

在世界杯失利后，退出国家队似乎成了一个选择，但罗纳尔多表示，葡萄牙足协主席敦促他继续参赛——现在看来，这真是一个极其不明智的决定。

如今，这位年迈的巨星发现自己陷入了一种尴尬的境地，没有人愿意身处其中——就像感恩节或圣诞节上那个不识趣的叔叔一样，赖着不走，令人厌烦。

更糟糕的是，他漫长的告别仪式已经开始削弱他无可否认的成就。别忘了，他惊人的天赋曾激励他的国家在2016年欧洲杯上夺冠，那是他的国家永远不会忘记的时刻。

但那已经是十多年前的事了，他的国家现在没有他反而更好了——从球队在球场上的表现和比赛结果就能看出这一点。

讽刺的是，正是那股无可辩驳的自负成就了C罗的辉煌，如今却也导致了他的陨落——这简直是索福克勒斯或欧里庇得斯笔下才会出现的希腊悲剧。或许他之所以在足坛徘徊如此之久，是因为他的老对手梅西近年来在阿根廷国家队取得了巨大的成功，而他渴望在最后时刻向世人证明，自己也应该像这位迈阿密国际队的前锋一样，跻身于足坛的殿堂级人物之列。

但如果将两人如今的水平进行比较，C罗的表现可能比他自己意识到的还要糟糕。现在是时候和国家队告别了。如果他能尽快离开，或许还能像梅西在布宜诺斯艾利斯那样，拥有一个体面的告别仪式。

大多数人似乎都知道这一点——除了罗纳尔多本人。