Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Football

It's been more than 24 hours since Messi's Argentina became World Champions. However, there are still some football fans, who are yet to fathom what they saw yesterday in one of the greatest World Cup finals ever in the history of the game.

The turn of events, the peaks and troughs of emotions, the artistry on display, and the grandeur of the occasion made it all a perfect advertisement for the beautiful game. Just when you think you have seen it all, football gives you another reason to fall in love with it all over again.

While football is the canvas and player the artist, it's the latter's imagination and creativity that completes the masterpiece. When you talk about football artists, you can't just avoid but think about the diminutive Argentinian. As the protagonist of football's story, Messi's magic is quintessential. Romanticism with him for anyone who watches the game is inevitable.

Messi is like poetry in motion, an artist at work who has left you awestruck innumerable times. The fact that he has now won the illusive World Cup trophy underlines that this particular artist's genius is no longer a matter of opinion anymore. He is in his own universe altogether and it is now a fact. He has seen it all and has now won it all.

How Messi is able to achieve exactly what he wants is known only to him. But there are certainly a few obvious reasons-his indomitable spirit, never-say-die attitude, gifted natural ability, sheer hard work, discipline, determination, and hunger for success. Without all of this, surely Messi wouldn't have been able to achieve what he did.

But there was one more step which was not quite obvious for this ladder of success that Messi climbed. That step was the motivation he drew from the epic rivalry he shared with another of the game's greatest artists, Cristiano Ronaldo.

While we currently revel in the phenomenon of Lionel Messi, we should not forget about the Portuguese sensation. He definitely played a pivotol role in the making of the little magician and wrote one of the most epic chapters in the story of this sport.

Messi and Ronado define an era

It all started in the early 21st century when two little boys with humble origins decided to let football drive their individual fate. Their twinkling eyes had only one dream - to reach the pinnacle of world football.

As fate had it, they were given an opportunity to showcase their talents at the biggest of the stages. And boy, how did they grasp it!

From when they become boys to men and then men to miracles is a story that defies belief. While one of them is an extremely talented, naturally gifted footballer, the other is an unfathomably determined and hard-working athlete. What drives both of them is their unparalleled desire to win. Their hunger for success is like Cleopatra's beauty - when most get satisfied, they get hungrier.

One can't compare them. They don't compete, but complement each other. Both are sources of inspiration for each other. They wouldn't have been here if either of them was alone. They circle each other as if they were made to push each other. It's a phenomenon that defies description, an event that transcends reality.

For almost two decades now, both have been tantalizing fans with their extra-terrestrial skills, bringing joie de vivre to millions around the world. Such has been their magnificence that they have fooled all of us into believing that whatever they have achieved is just the norm. If current footballers play in a universe that was formed by the Big Bang, then both of them play in a parallel universe that needs time-travel to fathom how they do it.

They are both beyond 35 now, still brilliant but mortal. Nobody needs another reason to behold every opportunity to witness their talents because you never know if this glimpse of greatness might prove to be the last. Marvel in their gifts and revel in the feeling that these are not some other mainstream entertainers playing their tunes for diminishing returns, but maestros who are still finding new ways to thrill their audiences.

Witnessing this phenomenon every day is a privilege. Realizing this won’t last forever is wise. So live it while it lasts. Make sure your children see them. Your grandchilden if possible. Because while football always finds a way of producing new heroes, there is little to no chance that there will be another like them coming along very soon.

As for settling the GOAT debate, well, it is up to the individual's opinion and the era they lived in. While football has an infinite timeline, we mortals are finite. The day before yesterday, maybe it was Pele. Yes, maybe it was Maradona. Today, maybe its Messi and tomorrow it might be Mbappe. But no matter who it is in whatever timeline, there is clearly and definitely one winner - Football - which is, as a matter of fact, the GREATEST OF ALL TIME.