Messi turns everything to gold in Miami, Ronaldo leads his team to collapse in Riyadh: This contrast across the ocean is too heartbreaking!

With his market value doubling and his performance at the bottom: whose dignity was shattered by Cristiano Ronaldo's "strike" farce in Saudi Arabia?

On February 4th in Riyadh, the air was still thick with the oppressive heat inflicted by money. Cristiano Ronaldo's strike farce was like an endless videotape, playing repeatedly in the world of football, leaving viewers both aesthetically fatigued and chilled to the bone.

Although this farce failed to stop Benzema from donning the Riyadh Crescent jersey, nor to halt Kanté's departure from United Jeddah, nor to prevent a prime player like En-Nesyri from seeking his fortune in the desert, Cristiano Ronaldo's attempt to disrupt the Saudi league's operational logic through a "strike" revealed him to be nothing more than a shiny but stripped screw in a giant gear. The Saudi elites were indeed annoyed, but this annoyance felt more like the embarrassment of "buying an expensive watch only to find it doesn't keep accurate time."

Once upon a time, Cristiano Ronaldo's name was synonymous with "professionalism." But now? That word is shrinking exponentially, even gradually becoming an international laughingstock.

What's even more interesting is that Transfermarkt recently seemed to be trying to whitewash this aging hero, but inadvertently revealed its true colors. The data provided by Transfermarkt, intended to prove that Al-Nassr's signings were less aggressive than their competitors, ended up becoming evidence that Ronaldo "led the team to ruin."

Let's look at the data. Before Cristiano Ronaldo joined, what was Al-Hilal's market value? €79 million. This figure seems unremarkable today, but back then, Al-Hilal, valued at less than €50 million, could only lag behind Al-Hilal. At that time, Al-Hilal was a veritable "aircraft carrier" in the Saudi league, a force to be reckoned with, a behemoth that could dominate as long as nothing went wrong.

But what happened after Ronaldo arrived? Al-Nassr certainly unleashed his financial power, going on a spending spree and accumulating a squad value of €133 million. This doesn't even include Duran, who was loaned out for €35 million, despite initially costing nearly €80 million. While Al-Nassr may seem "not as extravagant" compared to Al-Ubin's €141 million, Al-Ahli's €171 million, and Al-Hilal's €190 million, this precisely illustrates a harsh truth: Ronaldo has transformed a team that should have been dominant into the bottom of the four major domestic clubs.

This isn't a lack of investment; it's complete inefficiency. What was supposed to be a max-level account carrying the entire server has turned into top-tier resources revolving around one person's "thousand-goal dream," ultimately resulting in nothing but failure year after year.

If the Chinese national football team is a training ground for pretense, then the difference between top superstars often lies in how they define the word "leader".

If you think Ronaldo's struggles are due to "the ravages of time," then let's look at the Argentinian across the ocean. Before Messi joined Inter Miami, what was Inter's situation? They were a bottom-of-the-table team in MLS, bullied by everyone. Then Messi went to the first game, scored a stoppage-time free-kick winner—a script even Hollywood screenwriters wouldn't dare write. Then came a string of victories, leading his team to the championship.

The following year, even after missing two months, Messi returned to deliver MVP-caliber performances, leading the team to a record-breaking points tally and securing the regular season title without much doubt, while also earning a spot in the Club World Cup. By the third year, Inter Miami was no longer the team that had been coasting along; Messi led the team to the championship and defended his MVP title. The most astonishing statistic is that he won six MVP awards in just 20 days.

Inter Miami under Messi was not just a championship-winning machine, but a history-maker. Reaching the Club World Cup Round of 16 and the Copa America Semi-Finals – every step was a pinnacle in the club's history and even in the history of American club football. Even more remarkably, Messi transformed a bottom-ranked team into a star-making factory, even netting millions of dollars in the transfer market annually. What do you call that? That's called "Midas touch," that's the true leadership bonus.

Let's look back at Cristiano Ronaldo. In his years in Riyadh, besides increasing his market value, racking up goals, and staging a strike, what substantial legacy did he leave for Saudi football? Was it his less than 30% success rate in duels against strong teams, or the power struggles in the locker room?

He's trying to prove he's not old yet, but he does it by making the entire team serve his stats; he's striving for respect, but he does it by quitting if things don't go his way. This almost pathological pursuit of excellence was a driving force in his prime, but a devastating poison in his later years.

Cristiano Ronaldo, at 41, is at an extremely awkward crossroads. His desire to return to Manchester United was coldly rejected; his outburst in Saudi Arabia annoyed him; and his once-proud goal-scoring record appears increasingly hollow in the absence of trophies. When an athlete frequently resorts to "strikes" and "transfer threats" to maintain his presence, he has essentially admitted that his dominance on the field has crumbled.

Football is fair; it's not just about how many goals you score, but also how you support your teammates and define an era. Messi's every move in Miami demonstrates to the world that even without running at full speed, he remains a god on the field; while Ronaldo's struggles in Riyadh repeatedly remind the world that when someone cannot accept a mediocre start, they often choose the most undignified way to end it.

This is no longer a simple competition; it's a battle of honor in one's later years. Messi is enjoying football, while Ronaldo is fighting against it. Messi made Miami a legend, while Ronaldo turned Al-Hilal's victory into a joke.

When Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at the training ground two hours early, attempting to demonstrate his professionalism, he may have forgotten that true royalty doesn't need to "demonstrate" to management in this way. When he starts arguing about who the "eldest son" is and who gets more resources, he has already demoted himself from the omnipotent CR7 into a spoiled child demanding candy in the desert but receiving nothing.

This kind of disgrace in one's later years is multiplied. Every time it happens, a crack appears in that once glorious idol.

Perhaps, 2026 in North America is indeed their final destination. But judging from their current trajectory, one person is heading to the tournament laden with trophies and the admiration of the entire nation, while the other may still be struggling to scrape together those last few embarrassing goals from a pile of ruined records.

The evening breeze in Riyadh couldn't blow away this mess. Some legends are destined to live forever at their peak; while some idols are slowly burying their last shred of dignity in the pits they dug themselves.Return to Sohu to see more.