Pelé and CR7: master and slave

Pelé died the day Ronaldo signed for the Saudi dictatorship. robust metaphor.

Pelé patented magic in soccer. If Michael Jordan ended up taming Nike, the Brazilian did the same, but with soccer: he turned sport into a show for the masses.

Cristiano Ronaldo matured on the courts, but outside of them he was trapped in adolescence. One of the first images of the documentary Ronaldo, directed by Anthony Woke, shows the player showing off his cars that he has stored in his garage. The invitation to stop watching the documentary is explicit. Especially for a person who defines the car as a means of transportation and not as a means that transfers narcissism.

Andy Warhol said: “Pele will be famous for 15 centuries.” Ronaldo does everything possible not to go out of style, including signing with a dictatorship to become the highest paid player in the world. Impossible to forget Prince Mohamed bin Salmán, creator and operator of the murder of journalist Khashoggi.

Pelé transformed Guadalajara into the capital of Brazil in 1970. The phenomenon did not only occur in Jalisco, 52 years later, the Mexican fans continue to support Brazil. Ronaldo will not touch his pocket to stop supporting Saudi Arabia in their competition against Spain and Portugal to organize the 2030 World Cup.

Xico Sá writes in El País (December 31) that Pelé was the compensation that God gave Brazil for not having, until now, a Nobel Prize. Ronaldo preferred not to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony when he knew that the winner would be Messi. Ronaldo, a boy who expresses his frustrations with tantrums.

Pelé signed his first contract with Santos in 1958 for $40 a month ($425 today). Ronaldo will earn 6 euros per second. As you read this column Ronaldo will win 4 thousand euros. Indeed, another era.

Sarkozy knows it, the president who convinced Platini so that Qatar would take the headquarters of the last World Cup. Macron knows it, the president who convinced Mbappé not to play with Madrid.

Politicians use players as puppets. Pele was no exception. In 1969 the Brazilian dictator, General Emilio Garrastazu Médici, sent for Pelé to congratulate him on his thousandth goal. To celebrate it, the politician created the Garrastazu Médici cup. The reality is that he used Pelé to whitewash his dictatorship.

When the American boxer Mohammad Ali refused to participate in the Vietnam War, Brazilians turned to Pelé. “Brazilians are not yet ready to vote,” said the soccer player.

Pelé’s death heralds the end of football as a spectacle. Marketing uses it for political purposes. The English Premier is taken over by dictators from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. PSG is the capital of Qatar.

Pelé was the master of soccer; Cristiano is a slave to his time.