TOPIC – A beautiful journey
“Ronaldo conquers record set by Pele, and continues to inspire and evoke awe”
An emotional exchange between two football geniuses cut through the social media chatter Sunday night. Cristiano Ronaldo expressed his “everlasting and unconditional admiration for Mister Edson Arantes do Nascimento”, known across the world simply as Pele. The Brazilian, in reply, regretted not being able to hug Ronaldo. This was after Ronaldo, on Sunday, conquered the once-insurmountable goal-scoring record set by Pele. A hat-trick against Cagliari in Italian Serie A took the Juventus forward’s goal tally to 770 in all competitions, surpassing Pele’s total of 767. Born in poverty, Pele had to fight racial discrimination that had paralysed Brazilian sport to get a chance. And before the prodigy became prodigious, he played barefoot, worked as a shoe-shiner and sold peanuts at airports. Ronaldo didn’t have to experience any of that. But if Pele’s road was littered with social hurdles, Ronaldo must live in the unforgiving times of social media with relentless scrutiny in three demanding football ecosystems of Europe — England, Spain and Italy — all the while urging Portugal to leap as high as him in international assignments. This is an unenviable task that his contemporary Leo Messi always seems to be encumbered by. As a teenager, Ronaldo left opponents and teammates spellbound with his speed, stepovers and shimmies. Even as age catches up with him, the 36-year-old continues to inspire awe with his fitness, poaching prowess, the explosive jump and ability to carry his teams through almost single-handedly. All this, while constantly being compared with Messi and reduced to unforgiving memes on the internet. To paraphrase Pele, Ronaldo’s has been a beautiful journey, which — by the Portuguese legend’s admission — was inspired by the Brazilian’s demonstration of the wondrous possibilities of football. The myth and legend of Pele must survive the stat attack. At the same time, it should not diminish Ronaldo’s greatness either.
