Cristiano, Messi and… Jonathan Soriano

Cristiano ends the calendar year on 61 goals in 60 games; Messi, with 58 from 66 matches. These are extraordinary averages – Cristiano’s is the best (1.01 goals per games) but Messi’s is sensational too (0.87) and only seems less in comparison to the 90 he scored just two years ago. Our admiration for these two players can never be enough – for the incredible level both of them have managed to maintain during the past seven years. And we can never be grateful enough to have both of them here, in our league, the respective shining lights of the two top clubs and their eternal rivalry.

What I admire about them most is their will to maintain their position at the highest level. It’s evident that they need each other and feed off each other. I have noticed that the intense burden which their personal battle carries has had an effect and now neither exerts the same energy as before. Cristiano is no longer the player who would set off from the halfway line and tear through rival defences like a hurricane. Now he receives the ball higher up the pitch, where he waits, conserving his energy. Messi also spreads out his darting runs and in contrast to Cristiano, now tends to play a little deeper, receiving the ball in safer parts of the pitch. Both are preserving energies which, in other seasons, they might have wasted.

Despite all of that no one can question their efficiency and productivity. Nobody can accuse either of being decadent – both keep energy in reserve so that they can last longer. And we should it enjoy it while it lasts because when this intriguing duel comes to an end, we are going to miss it. They’re very different players in terms of physique, style of play and position but identical in their pursuit of excellence and ambition. Real Madrid and Barça have won a lot because of these two players – and we should thank both of them for that too. Someone else who deserves our praise is Jonathan Soriano who ends 2014 in the third place in the global goal scoring ranking with 55 goals in 52 games with Red Bull Salzburg - a marksman who ends the year smiling in a region of equally outstanding beauty.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://as.com/diarioas/2014/12/27/english/1419677657_420196.html

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