Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup exit settles the GOAT debate once and for all

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For nearly the entirety of this century, the most active debate in sport has been Messi or Ronaldo.

The two are mismatched sides of a Rorschach test. How you feel about them says everything about how you feel about yourself.

You couldn’t like both equally. You had to idolize one and think the other – as good as he obviously is – a little overrated. Getting into this with a stranger could be dangerous.

Of the core question – which of the two is better? – there was no right answer. Everyone, even the people who cared most about it, accepted that. They’d each scored a million goals, played for the biggest clubs, made a shocking amount of money. At their height, they were easily the two most famous people alive.

But as of Monday, we know. It’s Messi. He was the greatest of all time. He has the trophy – there’s only one that matters – to prove it.

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There was only one way that Ronaldo, 41, now playing in obscurity in Saudi Arabia, was going to keep this conversation alive. He had to win this World Cup. Not Portugal, him. He had to do it alone. Because that’s what Messi did the last time around. On Monday, Portugal lost to Spain. Ronaldo’s greatest achievement in the contest was remaining on the field for the whole of it.

Throughout this World Cup, Messi has been a difference maker, while Ronaldo was a peripheral figure. The Portuguese’s best night came in Toronto. How sad is that for an international megastar?

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Ronaldo had said beforehand that this would be his last World Cup. He cast his being here as a triumph of will, rather than what it is – a leading man who won’t leave the stage, and a country that can’t bring itself to yank him off it.

“You have been trying to kill me for the past 23 years, but you must have seen that is not worth it,” Ronaldo told the media beforehand. “It’s a waste of time, but you try and try and try and try and try.”

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Do you feel that, through no fault of your own, your life isn’t every single thing you hoped it would be? Then you are a Ronaldo man.

Ronaldo isn’t the Salieri to Messi’s Mozart, because he will be remembered just as well. Except that now that memory will be as the foil to the best of all times. Ronaldo thought he was Ali. Instead, he’s Joe Frazier.

The sad thing isn’t seeing him leave the stage. He’s still on it. Even diminished, Ronaldo’s brand gravity is such that he will remain unavoidable, probably forever. They’ll figure out how to market a swoosh on his tombstone.

Once he retires for real, he can set to work making himself really famous as a broadcaster. As good as he was with his feet, he was even better at a microphone.

What’s sad is the thought of Messi continuing on without him. I suspect this will be like couples who are married a very long time. Once one goes, the other is on the clock.

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Looking back on it, the most remarkable thing about this rivalry is how little rivalry it involved.

They weren’t friends, but neither were they enemies. Often these sorts of things start in anger, soften with age and end in unusual closeness. Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird is the best known example.

Not these two. They avoided each other when they were young and did so more purposefully when they were both playing in Spain in their primes. Now that they are old and on different continents, they never see or talk about each other at all. They split the sponsorship pie down the middle – Ronaldo for Nike, Messi for Adidas – so that they would never come into conflict that way either.

Ronaldo once moved two bottles of Coca-Cola off the podium at a press conference and said, “Drink water.” Coke shares plummeted, carving US$4-billion off the drink manufacturer’s valuation. But there was no beef – Messi shills for Pepsi.

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Each man’s exaggerated formality was another part of their appeal. Messi’s is quiet, and Ronaldo’s is loud, but it’s the same. Neither talks small. If they are gossipy, they do a great job of keeping it to themselves.

Nowadays, famous people can’t shut up. As soon as you make it – boom! – you’re immediately on a million podcasts talking about the first time you tried to light the family cat on fire. Among the well known, reticence is rare as saintliness.

We know nothing about these two. They are shining examples of how to remain above the fray.

Could one have been as good without the other? Probably. Soccer isn’t boxing. You aren’t driven beyond your limits by a single opponent.

But could either have become as revered without the other? No chance. Messi isn’t the Messi we think of as Messi without Ronaldo, and vice versa. You don’t get this big without being lucky. Neither was luckier in anything than in the quality of their antagonist. Now that’s over.

Messi has won, and can continue winning here, but it doesn’t make a difference. Without a World Cup to match his rival’s, Ronaldo’s claim to the No. 1 spot all-time is built on sand.

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After Monday’s match ended, Ronaldo drifted around the field aimlessly. Even his teammates knew to stay away from him. He was lost in a reverie, which is his way of letting the shooters on the sideline get multiple angles. He knew this image would front many papers.

And then that’s it. Next up – proper retirement, which may not be for ages. But it’s already over. Ronaldo lost.

What a letdown. Not the result, but that there had to be one at all. In a more elegant world, these two could remain locked in a head-to-head duel down the final stretch forever.