It is still Ronaldo that draws the criticism and blame however, with people questioning if he goes missing in big games – especially against Barcelona – well Messi has still only scored one goal away from the Camp Nou this season, yet no one mentions that, or the fact he was lucky to be on the field in the first place. People forget that Villa has been in such poor form, or that Ozil has been off the boil recently and how about the passing and crossing from Di Maria in the penalty area? It was shocking and wasteful to say the least –but it is always Ronaldo who cops the flack.
Perhaps this is due to his perceived persona both on and off the field, but to say that he goes missing in every game against Barcelona is wide of the mark. It is a credit to his other performances that show how even when he has a mediocre game, people question if the player is ok. Ronaldo has been playing with a niggling ankle injury for a couple of weeks now, yet this is never mentioned.
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Ok, Ronaldo had a poor game on Saturday night, perhaps his worse against a Barcelona team, yet I fully believe he is capable of playing well against them, as are Real Madrid. It speaks volumes that Ronaldo has ‘anti supporters’ – people sad enough to actively wish harm and poor performances on the player, and will not appreciate how good he actually is. Messi on the other hand, inspires an army of fanatical supporters and it seems no one dislikes such ‘a nice guy.’
Before and after every Clasico, it seems to turn into a Ronaldo v Messi debate, and the one area that I will hand on heart say I feel Messi has the edge on is this. Ronaldo lets it get to him far more, and I genuinely feel this affects his performance in a negative way. For him to truly prove he is better than Messi, he has to dispel the rivalry and competition from his mind, and just focus on doing what he does best – playing football. He will have no better stage than the 22 of April at the Camp Nou to do this.
Written by Rebecca Knight for FootballFancast.com.
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