End of An Era and Organizational Memory

Figure 1Image courtesy of Getty images and Nicolo Campo

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The end of the Messi-Ronaldo/ Ronaldo-Messi rivalry

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As we come to the end of an era, a fact that shall once again become plainer with their absence at the Ballon D'or rituals to come. Or by their growing omission from the bracket of the accolades, serious contenders. This season's Champions League has served some of the most edge-of-your-seat enjoyable and mesmerising performances. The removal of the away goals and the newness around its absence raised the entertainment factor a few notches. Each round of this season's competition delivered more than its fair share of unexpected twists and turns.

Real Madrid and Liverpool were the seasons leading entertainers in chief. And it was only fitting that they met in the final. But their supremacy also marked the end of the era for the Ronaldo-Messi/Messi-Ronaldo dominance. On the one hand, Messi finally won a major trophy with his beloved Argentina and overcame the heartbreak of successive failed attempts. Football has an unforgiving side. And Cristiano Ronaldo re-joined Manchester United. Unfortunately, that’s as good as the story is for now.

Madrid’s and Benzema’s Resurgences

Figure 2 Image courtesy of goal.com.

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Real Madrid and Kareem Benzema have enjoyed a somewhat remarkable resurgence since Ancelotti returned to the Bernabeu. They seemed to find the extra reserves of composure and presence of mind they needed to outcompete all their opponents. Even Messi noted that they were not the best team. However, they managed to beat the best teams to become champions of Europe for a record-extending fourteenth time. More interestingly, their ride to the pinnacle was one of the most incredible recent times. More entertaining than their three successive title wins, but I digress. It was also unique because they played the entire tournament as one of the dark horses. Hard to believe for the tournament's most successful team, no? Their success this season has to be the clearest indication that they have moved on from the Ronaldo era and have successfully rebuilt a squad capable of beating any team on their day and even when it's not their day.

Ronaldo, Institutional Memory and Learning

Figure 3 Image courtesy of irishtimes.com

However, in light of recent revelations, maybe not. The resurgent (and Ballon D'or designate) Kareem Benzema shared something monumental recently. He confessed to dissecting Cristiano Ronaldo’s techniques at the end of this season’s club competitions. This comes after delivering one of the best performances in his professional career. And this made me look at debates on who's better between Ronaldo and Messi from a new perspective.

Obviously, they are players of differing profiles. All you need to do is watch how they move around the ball. On the one hand, Ronaldo injected tremendous amounts of hard work, dedication, and drive to achieve his feats and do so consistently. He seems like the kind of person to apply himself every training session to master a skill or routine. For the players watching him, this makes Ronaldo's incredible achievements appear accessible with some consistency and commitment.

On the other hand, Messi has to be one of the most naturally gifted and graceful professional footballers. He made effortless what others lacking his talent spend time and effort mastering. He takes football to another level for the spectators because he is naturally unique and entertaining to watch. However, some of his talents are not as replicable or transferable as Ronaldo's. You cannot coach natural talent; you either have it or don't. Therefore, as a great natural talent as Messi is, his talent's natural quality means that other players will struggle to perform at his level. It is an important limitation for clubs seeking institutional knowledge or memory to guide current and future talent development efforts. Benzema is the latest in the growing list of elite professional footballers who have confessed to studying Ronaldo's techniques. Kylian Mbappe is another.

In closing

Thus, ladies and gentlemen, the end of an era are nigh. We will have to bid farewell to generational talents who are now ironically victims of their success. They have elevated professional football competition to astronomical heights at the professional football level; this remains beyond debate. Messi makes the game look as easy and as natural as breathing, which is very attractive to the fans. As a fan, he makes playing professionally easy and accessible, and this endears him to more fans. On the other hand, Ronaldo develops his techniques through commitment, practice and repetition. That makes his style of play more accessible to professionals and prospective professionals.?