Messi vs Ronaldo: Updated Edition (Luca Caioli)

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The people that run these clubs are seemingly very bad business people or just have very short-term incentives. Their valuation of assets seems non-rigorous to say the least and the clubs seem to be on the brink of failure all the time. Man U seems different but the book didn’t share enough info to say that with confidence. No one has ever accused me of being a soccer fan which makes this book an unusual choice for me. It’s a great read that not only covers the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo but paints the soccer world as a crazy soap opera where the only romance is between each player and himself. After finishing the epilogue, I saw that Argentina beat Croatia in the World Cup semifinal to advance to the final. I wonder if the authors would tweak the epilogue in hindsight. One of the best things that this book has going for it was that it presented the two of them in rivalry, even when they weren't. Additionally, the focus on how they remade soccer's monetary model was eye opening. Clegg did a great job of zooming in and out on the players and their ripple effects on the game and business of soccer. One of the most interesting parts of this book was how Clegg approached both superstars and their approach to the fans and media. The players both present in different ways, Ronaldo as a preening superstar, wanting the world to know about him, while Messi is quiet and just wants to play soccer. However, Clegg was able to strip away some of the image they've presented to find the similarities between the two personalities and recognize that what we see may not be the truth about each player. But at least it’s a worthwhile read. Written by a pair of Wall Street Journal reporters, Messi vs Ronaldo mercifully refrains from systematically going through their two careers season by season in a blur of goals and records. Instead, the emphasis is on the personal, drawing heavily on interviews with individuals who had ringside seats for both players’ rise to the top. The American perspectives of the authors are sometimes too noticeable – Walter Smith is referred to merely as “one of Ferguson’s assistant coaches from outside Glasgow”, Clive Tyldesley described as “an announcer” – but the writing is strong and detailed overall.

Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg offer a deeply reported account of the intertwined sagas and legacies of two of the greatest soccer players of all time--Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo--examining how their rivalry has grown from a personal competition to a multi-billion-dollar industry, paralleling the stunning rise, overwhelming excesses, and uncertain future of modern international soccer. The two players both missing out on a World Cup win, unless either wins in 2022 is also noted and discussed.Discussions and debates about the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of a particular sport are common today and in international soccer circles, that discussion today revolves around two players – Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo. Strong cases can be made for both players and this book, while very interesting, does not help someone make a case for one or the other to be considered better. I bet the authors are absolutely rueing publishing this book in the spring of 2022, thinking that the story of these 2 GOATs was about to finish.

With amusing irony, Messi vs Ronaldo is hitting the shelves just as Cristiano Ronaldo’s second act at Manchester United is ending in an embarrassing fireball of blame-spreading and self-owning, his abilities having declined to the point where Fred outranks him for shot accuracy this season. Lionel Messi, meanwhile, has been becalmed in Ligue 1 for 18 months, with his many worshippers hoping against hope that he can pull one last big triumph out of the bag, either in Qatar or in the Champions League. Both men are very close to the end, giving this book a somewhat valedictory feel. Messi and Ronaldo have become such an omnipresent part of sports that I knew who they were even before I started getting into soccer in the last year. I hadn't seen them play, I didn't know their statistics, but I knew that they were good, and possibly the greatest of all time. As I got into soccer and started spending some time doing research about the game, I discovered just how good the two players were, and how much they dominated their sport. The amount of profligate spenders who’ve infiltrated the game (mainly Middle Eastern and Chinese actors) seems like a huge net negative on the sport. Not only have they bid up prices on assets to crazy levels but they also are not at all motivated to break even, so they’re skewing the very laissez-faire business to a race to the bottom. Seems like the era of homegrown talent is out and so many of these huge signings don’t pan out. This book is worth the read even just to get an evolving profile of Florentino Perez, how he became rich, and his tenure as El Presidente of Real Madrid. More details about the Ronaldo and Messi entourages as well as the financial debacle that is post-Messi FC Barcelona was also worth the time.

The book’s overriding theme is how their career arcs personified the radical transformation of football from a mere sport into a formidable tool of global soft power, which means lots of material about the behind-the-scenes machinations that powered their careers. In the summer of 2008, as Real Madrid try to unsettle Ronaldo at United by planting stories in the press, an outraged Alex Ferguson tells him: “If I do that [cave in to their tactics], all my honour’s gone, everything’s gone for me, and I don’t care if you have to sit in the stands… I will not let you leave this year.” There’s also a very good analysis of how Messi’s final contract at Barcelona effectively broke the entire club, as its gargantuan wage terms tipped the numbers over into 110 per cent of the organisation’s revenue. When he eventually lands at PSG, they make an optimistic attempt to turn him into a fashion plate, adding Christian Dior as a partner and making Messi “trade his jean shorts for cashmere coats and tailored trousers”.