Messi's catastrophic penalty meltdown would NEVER have happened to Ronaldo

  The Argentina captain caused shockwaves in football with his international retirement, but it's not something the Portuguese star will experience.

  Lionel Messi missed the first penalty in Argentina's shootout defeat to Chile in the Copa Centenario final and his team went on to lose yet again. One thing's for sure: it would never have happened to Cristiano Ronaldo.

  That's not because Ronaldo is any better at penalties than Messi – he’s not – but, crucially, he wouldn’t have taken the first one. Ronaldo would have waited until spot kick number five, that way he alone could drink in the acclaim and celebrate.
He is consumed by that thirst for individual glory, Messi is not to the same extent. The three-time Ballon d’Or winner called his decisive fifth penalty in the Champions League final shootout against Atletico Madrid earlier this year the “winning goal”. Ronaldo is driven purely by his ego, he would never contemplate going first.
  It’s not because he’s cowardly - the fifth penalty is a nightmare in the wrong hands - but Messi is different. Messi is egotistical in many ways but he is more equipped as a football brain than is Ronaldo. Messi knows he is the best player on any team he plays. He has a keen analytical mind, acquired from years of working with Ronaldinho, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
   Messi is now playing with many more dimensions to his game. Sometimes he’s wide, sometimes central, at other times deep. He's always influencing the game, he's become a more rounded player thanks to his intellect.
  The passing of time might finally – barely, but perceptibly – be catching up to Ronaldo but moving back the field and allowing others to score is not in his thought process. Instead, while Messi has gone backwards to take his team forwards, Ronaldo has become more selfish. He is more a centre forward now than at any stage during his career and the destruction of personal scoring records are not incidental like they are for Messi – they are legitimate goals in their own right. And in a shootout, Ronaldo's vanity and the team's success are in perfect alignment: the team wants to win the shootout, Ronaldo wants to score the fifth penalty.
Messi taking the first penalty in the shootout makes sense. He is a true captain. The responsible thing to do for a captain, a leader, is to go where others follow. If Messi scores that one then Argentina move a giant step closer to their first international title since 1993. Chile might be inclined to breathe less easily, Argentina empowered. That first penalty sets the standard for the shootout to come; particularly on a “break point” after Arturo Vidal missed his.
But the loss of what should have been Messi’s goal surely created doubts in the minds of the other Argentines. Chile - with their confidence high after seeing the opposition’s best player blow break point - were flawless in their execution from there on in. Lucas Biglia missed and Argentina suffered their third final defeat in three summers.


  Ronaldo would never have taken that penalty let alone miss it nor would his team-mates have expected him to. He would have done with he did in the Champions League final and stood there waiting for the fifth; forcing everyone else to build the foundations for his crowning glory to come.  Ronaldo - waiting to stride forward and score the fifth penalty – it’s inevitable he’ll knock it in.
He even tried it in 2012 at the European Championships when Portugal were eliminated by Spain. “Injustica,” he mouthed as the Spanish won the semi-final shootout before Ronaldo had even got his chance to kick one. But was it unjust that Spain won or unjust that Ronaldo was denied the big celebration?
  Messi put himself before the team. He would have joined in with the shootout celebration, no doubt, but he didn’t need to be at the centre of it. Ronaldo would have been the exact opposite. He is a player who can sometimes hardly bring himself to celebrate with a team-mate who’s scored ahead of him. He was nowhere on the scene when the Portuguese masses descended on Ricardo Quaresma on Saturday night after he scored the winner against Croatia.
  Messi tried to do the selfless thing. He could have taken the fifth and could have been the man to vanquish the ghosts of Maradona and take Argentina back to title glory. His team-mates could have stood there, reassured, that Messi would take and score the fifth.