Sporting rivalries

體育較量

Clash of the titans

巨頭之間的交鋒

Messi vs Ronaldo. By Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg.

《梅西與羅納爾多》——約書亞-羅賓遜，喬納森-克萊格

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1 WINNING THE Ballon d’Or, an award given to the best male footballer in the world, is considered one of the crowning glories of a player’s career. Only a handful of athletes have won the prize twice; Marco van Basten, Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini each prevailed three times. For a decade, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo turned the Ballon d’Or into a duopoly. Between 2008—when Mr Ronaldo first won the award—and 2017, the pair claimed every Ballon d’Or between them.

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"金球獎"（Ballon d'Or），代表世界上最優(yōu)秀的男性足球運動員獎項，被認為是球員職業(yè)生涯中最高榮耀之一。只有少數(shù)幾位運動員獲得過兩次金球獎；馬爾科·范巴斯滕、約翰·克魯伊夫，米歇爾·普拉蒂尼獲得過三次。十年來，梅西和克里斯蒂亞諾-羅納爾多將金球獎變成了一個雙頭壟斷。從2008年羅納爾多先生首次獲獎到2017年，他們兩人奪得了所有的金球獎。

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2 Never have the highest reaches of football been dominated by the same two men for so long. In “Messi vs Ronaldo”, Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, two journalists at the Wall Street Journal, attempt to understand how they have done it. Talent is part of the story. Both players combine relentless scoring—they are the all-time top goalscorers in La Liga, Spain’s top division, and the Champions League, the leading European club competition—with brilliant passing. At their best, they function both as their side’s main creator of goals and the main scorer of them.

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足球界的最高獎項從未被同樣的兩個人統(tǒng)治如此之久。在《梅西與羅納爾多》中，《華爾街日報》的兩位記者——約書亞-羅賓遜和喬納森-克萊格試圖弄明白他們是如何做到的。天賦是傳奇的一部分。兩位球員都將不停的進球與出色的傳球相結(jié)合，--他們是西甲（西班牙頂級聯(lián)賽）和歐洲一流俱樂部比賽--歐洲冠軍聯(lián)賽的歷史最佳射手。在最佳狀態(tài)下，他們既是球隊得分的主要組織者，也是球隊的主要射手。

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3 The pair’s influence also reflects globalisation, modern technology and football’s growing clout. When Mr Messi played for Barcelona, he had a say in transfers and even managerial appointments. His sway was such that, when a club employee argued that Mr Messi “would not be as good” without the help of his team-mates, the staff member was quickly dismissed “for having publicly expressed a personal opinion that does not match that of the club”. Mr Messi’s salary—€555m ($577m) over his last four years—almost bankrupted Barcelona. When Mr Ronaldo moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018, his new club gained a vast number of social-media followers while his old one lost hundreds of thousands. Traditionally, fandom means following a particular team regardless of its squad; for many in the age of Mr Messi and Mr Ronaldo, it has become about following players instead.

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這對組合的影響力也反映了全球化、現(xiàn)代技術(shù)和足球日益增長的影響力。當梅西先生為巴薩效力時，他在轉(zhuǎn)會甚至是管理層任命上都有發(fā)言權(quán)。他的影響力是如此之大，以至于當俱樂部的一名員工認為，如果沒有隊友的幫助，梅西先生 "不會那么出色 "時，這名員工很快就被解雇了，理由是"因為他公開表達的個人觀點與俱樂部觀點并不一致"。梅西先生的工資--四年5.55億歐元（5.77億美元）--幾乎讓巴塞羅那破產(chǎn)。2018年，當羅納爾多先生從皇家馬德里轉(zhuǎn)會到尤文圖斯時，他的新俱樂部獲得了大量的社交媒體粉絲，而前俱樂部則失去了數(shù)十萬的粉絲。傳統(tǒng)意義上，球迷意味著追隨某支球隊，無論其陣容如何；對于梅羅時代的許多人來說，球迷意味著追隨這名球員。

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4 From 2009 to 2018, when both men played for Spanish teams, every clash doubled up as a referendum on which man was the superior star. If Mr Messi—for his grace in playing the game and sense of play—was football’s Roger Federer, then Mr Ronaldo was its Rafael Nadal: less artistic, more physical, his career a triumph of sheer bloody-mindedness. Mr Messi has eschewed publicity and Mr Ronaldo has embraced it. (See the recent interview in which he criticised his current club, Manchester United.) But the authors argue that such contrasts overlook the players’ “mutual understanding”: “that their most important business partner is the other”. If there is no friendship between the two, neither is there real animosity.

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從2009年到2018年，當兩人都為西班牙聯(lián)賽效力時，每一次交鋒都是一場兩人孰弱孰強的公投。如果說梅西先生是足球界的羅杰·費德勒，那么羅納爾多就是足球界的拉菲爾·納達爾：后者缺乏觀賞性，而更注重身體，羅納爾多職業(yè)生涯是純粹的獨行俠式勝利。梅西先生避開了媒體報道，而羅納爾多先生則接納了它。(最近的采訪中，他批評了如今所在的俱樂部--曼聯(lián)）。但作者認為，這種對比忽略了球員之間的 "惺惺相惜"。"他們最重要的商業(yè)伙伴是對方"。如果兩人之間沒有友誼，那么也沒有真正的敵意。

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5 There has been a dark side to their sporting excellence. Both players allowed themselves to be courted by intolerant regimes—the United Arab Emirates in Mr Ronaldo’s case and Saudi Arabia in Mr Messi’s. They have largely kept politics and sport separate, in the manner of the quip uttered by Michael Jordan, a basketball player: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” Both had to repay millions to the Spanish tax authorities. Mr Ronaldo has been accused of sexual assault. (He denies the allegations and has never been charged.)

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他們在運動方面的卓越表現(xiàn)也有其黑暗的一面。兩位球員都允許自己被不容異說的政權(quán)所討好--羅納爾多先生對應(yīng)著阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長國，梅西先生則是沙特阿拉伯。他們在很大程度上將政治和體育分開，就像籃球運動員邁克爾-喬丹（Michael Jordan）所調(diào)侃的一樣。"共和黨人也買運動鞋"。兩人都不得不向西班牙稅務(wù)部門償還數(shù)百萬美元。羅納爾多先生也曾被指控性侵犯。(他否認了這些指控，也從未被起訴）

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6 Coverage of such matters ensures that this rigorously researched book avoids becoming hagiography. The result is an ambitious and valuable study for all those who want to understand the modern world of football that Mr Messi and Mr Ronaldo have helped forge. Yet the authors might have examined the endurance of these star athletes in greater depth.

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對這些問題的報道確保了這本經(jīng)過嚴格研究的書沒有成為吹捧性傳記，對于所有想要了解梅西和羅納爾多如何幫助打造了現(xiàn)代足球的人來說，這本書的結(jié)果是一項費時費力且有價值的研究。然而，作者本可以更深入地研究這些明星運動員長盛不衰的原因。

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7 Aged 35 and 37, Mr Messi and Mr Ronaldo, albeit a little diminished, continue to play on, apparently motivated less by what they can achieve at their clubs than on the international stage, for Argentina and Portugal. Both have won one major international tournament. The weeks ahead offer the tantalising possibility that one of the pair might win the prize both covet most: the World Cup.

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35歲的梅西和37歲的羅納爾多，盡管狀態(tài)有所下滑，但仍在繼續(xù)比賽，顯然他們堅持的動力不是在俱樂部取得成績，而是在國際舞臺上，為了阿根廷和葡萄牙。兩人都贏得了一項重要的國際比賽。未來幾周，這兩人中的一個可能會贏得他們最夢寐以求的獎項：世界杯。