La Liga was over for another season. But unlike other recent campaigns, this one is set to be won by Real Madrid. It is a major surprise, and it was the first time Jose Mourinho had won at the Nou Camp. It has been some time for the most over hyped manager in the game – usually by himself.
Mourinho proved though that if you try enough, if you are defensive enough and pick the world’s best players, eventually you will win. But theirs was a triumph of the individual over the team. For Barcelona are without doubt a far superior team to Real despite the defeat. This was a product of one individual who has been so brilliant this season that even Mourinho may admit he is a bit ‘special’ himself. Ronaldo once again showed why he, and others, think so much of his ability. It was a quite brilliant finish, leaving Victor Valdes flummoxed and without a chance.
But Ronaldo is a product of his individual game. So often he picks the ball up, cuts inside and shoots. No player has as many shots as Ronaldo, because for him the game is about how good he can be, rather than how good the team are. Imagine if Ronaldo had half the team ethic of Leo Messi. He might then be as good as him. But then with Messi there is something – that he is so good that he does not even need to be individualistic to stand out. Some players do, clearly, but with Messi often it seems as though his own natural brilliance and dribbling ability is such that to be a team player is to showcase his individual brilliance.
For Ronaldo, maybe it is that he lacks something Messi has ability wise. It could be compensating for the inferiority to the Argentine. But for the undoubtedly gifted Portuguese the game is something less than the team event it is so often billed as. It is a case of try to do it yourself, and if it doesn’t work the first time, do it again. Unlike Nicklas Bendtner, he is so good that his ego can be justified – but it also means that team mates must cow to him too. For Ronaldo, even though it is all about him, you know that his ability is such that if you let him try and do it all on his own fifteen or twenty times in a game, he will get you a couple of goals.
Of course this denigrates Real to some extent, but it should not. Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema, Kaka, Mesut Ozil…Madrid are a galaxy of stars, brilliant players of whom the world is lucky to be witness. But they are so often overshadowed by Ronaldo, and defer to him, that the collective is sacrificed somewhat at the service of the individual. Barcelona are the better team, but Real are the better individuals. If Real’s individuals did what Barcelona do and work as a team more and with more of a philosophy, they could be the best team of all time. They won’t be though – because of the cult of the individual, from the leading example of the egotistical coach to that of the ego driven player himself, Ronaldo.
That in some ways is the microcosm of the victory by Real this season in La Liga. Eventually Ronaldo was going to win Real the league on his own. Now he has.
